Khamenei funeral procession begins July 4
People cross the street past a large billboard showing portraits of Iran’s late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (L) and slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (R) in central Tehran on June 8, 2026.
Atta Kenare | Afp | Getty Images
Iran is staging a six-day funeral procession for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader who led the Islamic Republic for four decades and was killed on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli war in February.
The ceremony will begin on July 4, nearly four months after Khamenei was killed, and end on July 9. The procession will cover cities across Iran and Iraq before a final burial in Mashhad, Iran’s holiest city.
The funeral, which “will be a tightly choreographed display of mourning, continuity and regime control,” Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Chatham House, told CNBC, was delayed for several months due to fighting.
The event is expected to draw tens of millions of mourners, and “could reveal tensions beneath the surface,” Vakil added.
The Islamic Republic is expected to enact unprecedented security measures, overseen by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, while the Basij paramilitary force will coordinate logistics, accommodation and crowd management across the various cities.
Khamenei’s final resting place is in the holy city of his hometown Mashhad, which holds profound religious significance for Shia Islam, and is where his father, the previous ayatollah, is buried.
Khamenei funeral route and schedule
The funeral has been designed as both a national and religious procession, touching some of the most significant sites in Shia Islam in Iran and neighboring Iraq.
“This is basically a political event portrayed as a religious one. It is designed to project legitimacy at home and deterrence abroad,” Alex Vatanka, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told CNBC.
July 4-5: Tehran
Public farewell ceremonies begin at Tehran’s Mosalla prayer complex around 6 a.m. local time, the traditional venue for major state religious gatherings and previous funerals of senior Islamic Republic figures.
July 6: Tehran
The main funeral procession will travel approximately 10 kilometers from Imam Hossein Square to Azadi (Freedom) Square after funeral prayers for the slain Ayatollah and his family.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani has said attendance could reach 20 million people, potentially making it the largest gathering in the city’s history.
People wave Iranian flags while attending the funeral of Alireza Tangsiri, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ navy alongside others killed in US-Israeli strikes on Iran at Enghelab Square in Tehran on April 1, 2026.
AFP | Getty Images
July 7: Qom
The procession then moves to Qom, Iran’s spiritual center of Shia learning.
Events will take place between the Shrine of Fatima Masoumeh and Jamkaran Mosque, two of the most important religious sites in Twelver Shiism.
July 8: Najaf and Karbala, Iraq
The body will then be transported to…
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