Funeral of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to begin July 4

The funeral of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei will begin in Tehran on ⁠July 4, and he will be buried in his home town of Mashhad on July 9, according to state media.

The burial, initially scheduled for March but postponed due to the war, will follow three days of funeral ceremonies in Tehran from July 4 and another in the holy city of Qom on July 7.

The start date of the national funeral will coincide with the United States’ Independence Day.

Khamenei, 86, was killed in a joint US-Israeli air strike on his compound in February.

Khamenei led Iran from 1989, following the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who had spearheaded the Islamic revolution a decade earlier.

While Khomeini was the ideological force behind the revolution that ended the rule of the Pahlavi monarchy, Khamenei shaped the military and paramilitary apparatus.

His successor, son Mojtaba Khamenei, has remained out of public view since the US-Israel war began.

Earlier this month, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Mojtaba Khamenei appeared to be taking a more active role as negotiations between the two countries continue following an April 8 truce.