Iran is preparing an unprecedented security operation for the funeral of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, seeking to prevent a repeat of the deadly crowd crushes that marred the burials of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989 and General Ghasem Soleimani in 2020.
More than four months after Khamenei's death, authorities say he will be buried on July 9 following five days of ceremonies across Iran and Iraq. The unusually long delay, officials say, reflects wartime conditions and security concerns, underscoring the political and logistical complexity of burying the Islamic Republic's longest-serving supreme leader.
The funeral will also be the first major state ceremony under Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, making it an important test of the new leadership's ability to project authority and maintain order.
The body will lie in state for three days at Tehran's Mosalla prayer complex before a funeral procession through the capital. It will then be taken to the Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala before returning to Iran for ceremonies in Qom and burial in Mashhad, Khamenei's birthplace, at the shrine of Imam Reza, the eighth Imam of Shiite Islam.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited Baghdad this week to coordinate with Iraqi officials on the cross-border procession.
Authorities have yet to announce who will lead the funeral prayer, traditionally one of the ceremony's most symbolic moments. If Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since his father's death, attends, some observers believe he could lead the prayer himself, although officials have given no indication that will happen.
Security takes center stage
Iranian officials have repeatedly stressed that crowd management and security will be their foremost priorities.
Gholamhossein Mozaffari, governor of Razavi Khorasan Province, where Khamenei will be buried, has suggested helicopters could be used during parts of the operation to help control crowds and ensure the safe movement of the coffin.
It remains unclear whether such measures would be confined to Mashhad or employed throughout the ceremonies.
Protecting senior officials, managing crowds and transporting the coffin across several cities in two countries is likely to require one of the largest security operations in the Islamic Republic's history.
First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref has described Khamenei's funeral as "the most important event of the 21st century," reflecting the political and symbolic significance authorities attach to the occasion.
Lessons from Khomeini's funeral
Iran's caution is rooted largely in the chaotic funeral of Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini following his death on June 3, 1989.
His body lay in state at Tehran's Mosalla before funeral prayers led by Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Golpayegani.
The following day, however, hundreds of thousands of mourners surged toward Khomeini's coffin as it was transported to the burial site. Security forces lost control as people attempted to touch the coffin, damaging it and tearing the burial shroud.
Authorities were forced to evacuate the body by helicopter and return it to Jamaran for re-shrouding before postponing the burial until the following day.
State media claimed attendance reached around 10 million people, although foreign estimates were considerably lower. Numerous people were reported injured and others are believed to have died in the crush, though no official casualty figure was ever released.
Khomeini was initially buried in a simple grave near Tehran's Behesht-e Zahra cemetery. The site was later transformed into a vast mausoleum complex.
Another tragedy
The funeral of Ghasem Soleimani after he was killed in a US drone strike near Baghdad airport on January 3, 2020, became the largest state funeral in Iran since Khomeini's.
His body was carried through several Iraqi and Iranian cities before reaching his hometown of Kerman, where a crowd crush and the collapse of barriers killed at least 56 people and injured more than 200, forcing officials to delay the burial.
The twin disasters at the funerals of Khomeini and Soleimani continue to shape Iranian planning for large state ceremonies.
By emphasizing crowd control, carefully staged processions and extraordinary security, officials appear determined to ensure Khamenei's funeral is remembered not for chaos, but as a demonstration of the state's ability to manage one of the most consequential events in the Islamic Republic's history.
