Iran has postponed a planned farewell ceremony in Tehran for its late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on Saturday in US-Israeli strikes as part of Operation Epic Fury.
The three-day program was scheduled to start at 10pm local time on Wednesday at the Imam Khomeini prayer hall, where large crowds would gather to pay their respects, according to Tasnim, a semi-official Iranian news agency.
Hojjatoleslam Seyed Mohsen Mahmoudi, head of the Islamic Propaganda Coordination Council of Tehran Province, said the postponement followed widespread requests to participate and the need to provide adequate infrastructure and facilities to accommodate attendees.
“It was decided to hold the ceremony at a more appropriate time,” he explained.
Iranian worshipers pray under a giant portrait of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a prayer hall at the Grand Imam Khomeini Mosque during Friday prayer ceremonies in Tehran, December 9, 2022. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
No additional reason for the postponement was given and it was not immediately clear when the ceremony would be rescheduled.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Iran’s leadership in a post on
“It doesn’t matter what his name is or where he’s hiding,” Katz said.
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Portraits of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (right) and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are carried by scouts in Beirut, Lebanon, on November 24, 2025. (Scott Peterson/Getty Images)
The funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, drew huge crowds in the country’s capital on June 11, 1989, with an estimated 10.2 million in attendance, about a sixth of the country’s population at the time.
According to Guinness world recordsit attracted the largest percentage of the population ever recorded at a funeral.
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A huge crowd gathers around the container covering the grave of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini at Behesht Zahra Cemetery in Tehran on June 7, 1989. (Christophe Simon and Pascal George/AFP via Getty Images)
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Khamenei’s death is the reason a closely monitored succession process under the supervision of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, the administrative body responsible for appointing the Supreme Leader.
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