Iran announces funeral, burial dates for late Supreme Leader Khamenei

Iran has announced the dates for the funeral and burial of its late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. State media reported that funeral ceremonies will commence in Tehran on July 4, with a subsequent ceremony in the holy city of Qom on July 7. Khamenei is slated to be buried in his hometown of Mashhad on July 9.

The national funeral's start date on July 4 coincides with the United States' Independence Day. The burial had initially been scheduled for March but was postponed due to the ongoing war. Khamenei, who was 86 years old, reportedly died in a joint US-Israeli air strike on his compound in February.

Khamenei had led Iran since 1989, succeeding Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the architect of the Islamic Revolution. While Khomeini provided the ideological foundation for the revolution that overthrew the Pahlavi monarchy, Khamenei was instrumental in shaping the country's military and paramilitary structures. His successor, his son Mojtaba Khamenei, has largely remained out of public view since the start of the US-Israel war.

Earlier this month, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated that Mojtaba Khamenei appeared to be taking a more active role amid ongoing negotiations between the two nations, following an April 8 truce. This suggests a potential shift in Iran's political landscape following Khamenei's death.