Funeral expenses deepen anger over Ali Khamenei's week-long burial

The comments, published by the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA), came as officials highlighted the growing presence of new psychoactive substances that they say are not covered by Iran's current anti-drug legislation.

"Seven thousand people die every year because of consuming counterfeit narcotics," Amirhossein Yavari, deputy for prevention and treatment at Iran's Drug Control Headquarters, said.

"These deaths occur because of impurities and dangerous compounds found in illicit narcotics and psychotropic substances, and accurate public awareness can play an important role in reducing the harm."

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  Shortage of opium syrup threatens addiction treatment in Iran

Contaminants and hazardous additives in illegal narcotics and psychotropic substances have made them increasingly dangerous, Yavari said.

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Iran has one of the world’s most serious drug-use problems, driven by its proximity to Afghanistan and the long-standing availability of opium and heroin.

Official and expert estimates vary, but Iran is generally believed to have around 2.8 million regular drug users, while broader estimates including occasional users can reach 4 million or more.

Last week, Soleiman Abbasi, Director General of Treatment at Iran's Drug Control Headquarters, warned of the rapid spread of synthetic narcotics and new psychoactive substances in Iran, announcing that the number of people with substance use disorders in the country has reached approximately 3.8 million.

Opium remains the most common drug, though heroin, methamphetamine and synthetic drugs have also become major concerns.

Hundreds of substances outside legal framework

In separate comments, Mohammad Tarahomi, legal and parliamentary affairs director at Iran's Drug Control Headquarters, said around 409 narcotic, psychotropic and new psychoactive substances identified in Iran are not included in the country's official list of controlled drugs.

Updating the list is one of the most urgent priorities in proposed amendments to Iran's anti-drug law because it has not been revised since 2011, Tarahomi said.

"In the past we generally classified drugs into three main groups: narcotics, psychotropic substances and stimulants," Tarahomi added. "Today, not only in Iran but around the world, we are facing a phenomenon known as new psychoactive substances."

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Many of the newer compounds, he said, have more severe effects than traditional narcotics or previously known synthetic drugs and differ in how they affect users.

A study using Iran’s Forensic Medicine Organization data by Lancaster University of the United Kingdom recorded 11,944 drug-related deaths between March 2022 and March 2024, with the average age of death around 37 and men accounting for the overwhelming majority.

Older official data showed about 3,000 drug-abuse deaths a year, suggesting the annual toll has risen sharply in recent years.

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Not all of the substances are entirely new, Tarahomi added. Some, including so-called magic mushrooms, have existed for years but have become subject to tighter restrictions as evidence of their medical and social consequences has grown.

Most newly identified substances, however, are synthetic chemicals created by combining existing compounds to produce drugs with different effects.

Tarahomi said some new psychoactive substances can have even more severe consequences than established narcotics and stimulants, citing cases in which methamphetamine-induced psychosis has led users to lose touch with reality and commit violent crimes.

Manufacturers, he added, can rapidly create new substances by making minor chemical changes, making quicker legal updates essential to keep pace with the evolving drug market.

Mozaffari, 57, founder and head coach of the Toop O Toor Volleyball Club in North Vancouver, faces three counts of sexual interference involving a person under 16, two counts of sexual touching of a young person and five counts of sexual assault, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

Police said the alleged offences took place in North Vancouver between January 2016 and December 2024. Four of the five alleged victims were under 18 at the time of the alleged offences.

Canadian media said Mozaffari captained Iran's national youth team and Iran's B national team before later coaching Iran's national volleyball team. He later immigrated to Canada and founded the North Vancouver-based club.

Mozaffari has not entered a plea, and the allegations have not been proven in court. He was released on conditions that include not coaching or mentoring any sport, not holding positions of trust over anyone under 18, and surrendering his travel documents. He is due back in court on July 15.

The IRGC operatives are also seeking access, through Omani sources, to the schedules and coordination details of ships passing through the southern route of the Strait of Hormuz, the sources said.

The special forces deployed by the IRGC are equipped with various intelligence-gathering systems, including land-based observation posts, naval equipment and aerial systems, and have recently been tasked with identifying in advance any vessel intending to pass through the southern route and issuing warnings about it, the sources said.

The sources also say that IRGC operatives are extensively gathering information from Omani sources and agents to learn ahead of time about the coordination and schedules of ship movements through the southern route and receive related alerts.

The IRGC has said the only authorized routes through the Strait of Hormuz are those designated by the Islamic Republic. It has warned international vessels not to use the southern corridor, which passes through waters near Oman’s coast and has been recommended by Oman and the International Maritime Organization.

The deployment of the IRGC monitoring and identification network, and its attempt to access shipping information through Omani sources, comes as Washington and Tehran agreed on Sunday after several rounds of exchanges of fire, to a temporary one-week de-escalation in the Strait of Hormuz.

Talks between the two sides are expected to continue in Doha based on a new proposal put forward by Oman.

Sources say the Islamic Republic, while sitting at the negotiating table, is strengthening its identification and warning chain for vessels that do not use Tehran-approved routes — a route at the center of the current dispute between Tehran and Washington.

The attack on a Singapore-flagged vessel

The pattern of last week’s IRGC attack on a commercial vessel in the southern route is consistent with the new mission assigned to these forces.

IRGC forces on Thursday, June 25, targeted a Singapore-flagged cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz near Oman’s coast. According to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, the attack damaged the vessel’s bridge but caused no casualties. It came only hours after the IRGC Navy warned against using unauthorized routes.

US warplanes on Friday, June 26, struck Iranian missile and drone depots as well as coastal radar sites. The IRGC Navy responded by attacking US positions in the region and, citing Clause 5 of the Islamabad memorandum of understanding, said arrangements for controlling traffic through the Strait of Hormuz were under the authority of the Islamic Republic.

Three rival routes in one waterway

According to reports, three different routes have now emerged for passage through the Strait of Hormuz: the southern route near Omani waters, the middle route used before the war, and the northern route under Iranian control.

Ships that choose non-Iranian routes risk being targeted, while those that pass through the Iranian route fear exposure to Western sanctions if the agreement collapses.

An analyst at the shipping intelligence firm Kpler told CNN that if the disputes are not resolved by mid-August, use of all three routes will become more chaotic and insecure.

Because of naval mines in the traditional traffic separation scheme designated by the International Maritime Organization in 1968, the middle route remains effectively closed, although Tehran has committed under the war-ending memorandum to clear the mines within 30 days.

Ship traffic is now moving through two routes: one near Oman’s coast and one near Iran’s coast. The Iranian Navy has also warned vessels to pass only south of Larak Island.

The dispute over Hormuz management

The IRGC’s attempt to access shipping information through Omani sources is especially significant because Muscat is both the coastal state for the southern route and the mediator and architect of the framework for the ongoing talks.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the head of the Islamic Republic’s negotiating team, said in Oman on June 23 that management of the Strait of Hormuz would not return to the pre-war situation. He said Tehran, in talks with China and Egypt, had raised the idea of charging vessels a “service fee” modeled on the Dardanelles waterway.

But Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi told Marco Rubio on June 25 that any possible mechanism for managing the Strait of Hormuz would not include tolls.

Officials of the Islamic Republic say Iran and Oman have joint sovereignty over the Strait and that after the 60-day deadline set in the memorandum expires, they will begin joint management and toll collection. The United States, however, regards the Strait of Hormuz as an international waterway and says any new mechanism there would require the approval of Persian Gulf countries.

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, has also previously said the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz cannot be guaranteed without coordination with Iran, warning that if such coordination does not take place, designated routes could be suspended.

A waterway far from normal

Two weeks after the signing of the 14-article Islamabad memorandum, which called for an end to the war on all fronts, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and the end of the US naval blockade, traffic through the Strait remains only a fraction of pre-war levels.

The number of vessel transits reached about 70 on June 24, the highest level since the start of the war. Before the war, an average of about 130 vessels passed through the waterway each day.

The secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization has said 14 seafarers have been killed since the start of the Strait of Hormuz crisis. The organization also temporarily suspended the evacuation of about 600 ships and 11,000 sailors stranded in the area after the attack on the Singapore-flagged vessel.

Tracking data nevertheless shows that ships are continuing to use the southern route despite Tehran’s warnings. The Joint Maritime Information Center, which operates under US Navy oversight, has also said the route near Oman’s coast is being expanded to allow two-way traffic.

Under these conditions, the IRGC’s deployment of special forces to identify vessels on the southern route in advance, and its efforts to obtain shipping information through Omani sources, show Tehran is preparing to exert control over the same corridor Washington and Muscat are working to expand.

The accounts describe a broad campaign of workplace directives, business closures and logistical mobilization in the days leading up to Khamenei’s funeral and burial.

The Islamic Republic's second Supreme Leader was killed on the morning of February 28, in the opening hours of the war with Israel and the United States.

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. Officials have attributed the unusually long delay to wartime conditions and security concerns, a sign of the political sensitivity and logistical difficulty surrounding the former leader’s burial.

Several messages said that businesses had been warned to close during the ceremonies or face penalties if they remained open.

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"We received a text message from the real estate union saying we are not allowed to open our office during the funeral days and must attend the ceremonies," one Tehran resident wrote.

Another message from Tehran said members of the Basij visited shops and warned owners that businesses opening during the mourning period would be sealed.

"My parents are shopkeepers. Basij members told our shop and others nearby that if we open during the funeral days, the shop will be sealed," the citizen said.

Others described wider economic disruption linked to the ceremonies.

One Tehran gym owner wrote that officials had instructed fitness centers to close from Saturday through Wednesday.

Another message said Tehran's Grand Bazaar had been ordered shut until Thursday, adding that the prolonged closure would place further pressure on already struggling businesses.

Workers describe mandatory attendance

Several messages added that public-sector employees were ordered to attend official ceremonies.

One Tehran municipality employee said all leave had been canceled and staff across municipal bodies had been ordered to attend the ceremonies.

Another message referred to an audio recording attributed to the human resources director of Tehran Municipality's District 10, which instructed all employees, including parents with young children and workers with serious medical conditions, to attend.

The Hamshahri newspaper group, another citizen said, had instructed management to provide 200 employees for the ceremonies.

Workers at automaker Saipa also described disruptions, with one employee saying overtime had been canceled as company facilities were prepared to accommodate around 2,000 visitors from Iraq attending the funeral.

Charities, restaurants and residents pressured

Messages also pointed to pressure beyond government workplaces.

One message from Nahavand in Hamedan province said local officials summoned charities on Wednesday and demanded they contribute to the funeral, warning that their work could be disrupted if they refused.

Another said that police and Basij members visited restaurants in an industrial town near Tehran and warned owners they must prepare thousands of free meals for mourners or risk closure.

A Tehran resident also reported that text messages encouraged households to host visitors traveling to the capital for the ceremonies.

Extensive state mobilization

Official announcements indicate the authorities are preparing a large logistical operation for the funeral.

The Basij Organization for Guilds said 50 million loaves of bread were being prepared nationwide with the participation of bakers' unions, while 16 mobile bakeries would be deployed across Tehran and surrounding areas to prevent shortages.

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Several messages criticized the scale of those preparations, contrasting them with economic hardship and reductions in public support.

"Free trains and hotels are available for their leader's burial, but student food subsidies have been cut," one student wrote.

Another message said bread was being transported from Kerman for the ceremonies, adding that transport resources would face additional pressure.

Iran has announced that funeral processions will begin in Tehran on July 4 before continuing through Qom, Najaf and Karbala ahead of Khamenei's burial in Mashhad on July 9. Authorities have also announced heightened security measures, including temporary airspace restrictions over Tehran and Mashhad during the ceremonies.

Lawyer Hojjat Kermani said Kashani's sister, Sima Kashani, was also arrested. He said it was not immediately clear which security agency had detained the three, according to the Emtedad news website.

Kermani said the arrests, ahead of a long public holiday and the closure of judicial offices, had increased concern among their families.

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Jokar and Kashani were among a group of environmental activists arrested in 2018 by the Revolutionary Guards' intelligence organization. They were later convicted on espionage charges after a case that drew criticism from human rights groups and UN experts over the arrests, interrogations and trial.

Jokar was sentenced to eight years in prison and Kashani to six years. The other defendants were released from Tehran's Evin prison at different times, with the last of them freed in April 2024.

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  2,800 Activists Call On Iran’s Judiciary To Reconsider Jailed Environmentalists’ Case

One of the defendants, Iranian-Canadian conservationist Kavous Seyed-Emami, died in custody about a month after his arrest in 2018. Iranian judicial officials said he had killed himself, a conclusion rejected by his family.

The latest arrests come amid reports by rights groups of a new wave of detentions of civil, political and labor activists across Iran following recent unrest and the war with Israel and the United States.