Only family members will attend Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s burial today in Mashhad, state media reported, heightening anticipation for Mojtaba Khamenei’s first public appearance as supreme leader.
His emergence would mark Khamenei’s first known public appearance since his appointment as Iran’s new supreme leader following his father’s assassination in a late-February Israeli strike coordinated with the United States, an attack that triggered a forty-day war.
Yet despite the announcement, it remains unclear whether the younger Khamenei will attend his father’s burial after his complete absence throughout a week of ceremonies. State media did not explicitly name the attendees and his brothers – Mostafa, Masoud and Meysam – had been representing the family over the past week of processions.
Security threats have also increased since the restart of hostilities between Washington and Tehran, and Israel said last week that the supreme leader is “marked for death.”
Believed to have been wounded in the February strikes by Israel and the US, the new supreme leader has stayed in hiding since the war began, communicating with supporters only through written statements and never appearing in public or using his voice.
Over the past week, large crowds of mourners have filled the streets of five cities across two countries to bid farewell to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a grand, week-long funeral ceremony.
