Iran postpones Khamenei’s farewell commemoration

TEHRAN — A ceremony commemorating Iran’s late leader Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran has been postponed, according to Iran’s Tasnim news agency.The report comes hours after Hojjatoleslam Mahmoudi, head of Iran’s ⁠Islamic Propagation Council, has initially said the farewell ceremony would start at 10 pm (18:30 GMT) at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Prayer Hall, the grand prayer complex where Friday congregational prayers are traditionally held.Khamenei’s body will lie in state of honor at the prayer hall, with doors open for three days to allow mourners to pay their final respects.“The ⁠prayer hall will be ⁠receiving visitors and the dear people can attend and take part in the farewell ceremony and mark ⁠a strong presence once again,” Mahmoudi said in comments ⁠carried by Iranian media.The funeral procession will take place after the three-day mourning period.Planning is still underway, and details will be announced once finalized, organizers said.Tasnim quoted an official citing logistical issues for the postponing the ceremony, including requests from people in different provinces to attend.Funeral arrangements are ongoing and are expected to draw huge crowds, and, with them, the potential threat of US-Israeli attacks on a gathering of mass mourning.Some 10 million people attended Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s funeral in 1989.Khamenei was killed on Saturday, aged 86. He had been Iran’s supreme leader since 1989, succeeding Khomeini, the founder of the post-shah Iran, who steered the country’s 1979 revolution.The supreme leader holds ultimate authority over all branches of government, the military and the judiciary, while also acting as the country’s spiritual leader.There are conflicting reports regarding Khamenei’s place of burial. However, some media outlets report he is likely to be laid to rest in the northeastern city of Mashhad, his birthplace.Khamenei’s slain family members, 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 offensive on Saturday, which has so far claimed nearly 800 lives nationwide, including 165 schoolchildren in the southern Iranian city of Minab.According to sources, heightened security measures will be in place for both the three-day mourning ceremony and the funeral procession, as attacks continue from both sides.Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a senior Iranian cleric who is a member of both the powerful Guardian Council and Assembly of Experts, said the country was close to choosing the late Khamenei’s successor.“The Supreme Leader ⁠will be identified ⁠in the closest opportunity, we are close ⁠to a conclusion, ⁠however the ⁠situation in the country is a war situation,” ‌Khatami told state TV.