Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has extended an invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the funeral of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Sources confirmed that the communication was made during a telephonic conversation between the two leaders, which also touched upon the ongoing conflict in West Asia.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who served as the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic for thirty-six years, was killed on 28 February, the first day of Israeli and United States airstrikes on Tehran.
He was eighty-six years old at the time of his death. His funeral rites are scheduled to begin on 4 July and will conclude with his burial in his hometown of Mashhad on 9 July.
State media has reported that the funeral arrangements will include ceremonies in Qom, a holy city south of Tehran, on 7 July. Despite Islamic law requiring burial ideally within a day of death, exceptions are permitted during times of war. Speculation about the funeral date had persisted since his assassination, with earlier reports suggesting a burial at the end of June before confirmation that it would take place in July.
The funeral is expected to draw nearly twenty million mourners across Tehran, Mashhad, and Qom. Pakistani officials, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, are also expected to attend. If the projected numbers are accurate, the event could surpass the ten million mourners recorded at the funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, in 1989.
Ali Khamenei’s son, fifty-six-year-old Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei, assumed the role of Supreme Leader on 8 March. However, questions about his health and whereabouts have persisted, with senior United States officials such as Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth claiming that he is in a coma.
It is significant that Iran and the United States have recently agreed to a peace deal after months of conflict that plunged West Asia into crisis and triggered a global fuel and energy crunch.
President Pezeshkian and US President Donald Trump signed digital memoranda of understanding separately, and long-term peace talks between the two sides are continuing in Switzerland.
ANI
