Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's Final Honors Ceremony Postponed

Mural of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Wikimedia Commons/Sonia Sevilla)

JAKARTA - Iranian authorities have postponed the final tribute ceremony for late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who was killed in a US-Israeli air raid last week.

Originally, the ceremony was scheduled to begin Wednesday night. But, Iranian state television said organizers had decided to postpone it given "the unprecedented number of mourners expected."

The new date and time will be announced later, the media said, citing Anadolu (5/3).

The head of the Tehran Islamic Dawah Coordination Council, the body responsible for organizing such ceremonies, previously said that the event would begin at 22:00 local time at Imam Khomeini Mosalla, the complex where the usual Friday prayers are held.

Organizers said Khamenei's body would be laid out in Mosalla, with the doors open for three days to allow mourners to pay their final respects.

Special religious and cultural programs are planned for each of the three days, starting on Wednesday evening.

Meanwhile, the funeral procession is scheduled to take place after the three-day mourning period.

There have been conflicting reports on Khamenei's burial place. However, several media outlets reported that he would likely be buried in his hometown, Mashhad, in northeastern Iran.

His father, a prominent cleric of his time, is also buried in Mashhad in the tomb of the revered Imam Reza, which is a popular pilgrimage site in the country.

It is planned that the members of Khamenei's family who died, including his wife, daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren, will also be buried on the same day.

They were killed on the first day of the US-Israeli attack on Saturday, which has so far claimed nearly 900 lives across the country, including 165 schoolchildren in the southern Iranian city of Minab.

According to sources, tightened security measures will be imposed both for the three-day mourning ceremony and the funeral procession, as attacks continue from both sides.