Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been killed in Israeli airstrikes and will be buried in the holy city of Mashhad, according to Fars News Agency on Tuesday.
Khamenei, who had ruled Iran for 36 years, died at the age of 86 during a series of air attacks carried out by the United States and Israel on Saturday. He hailed from Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city, where his father is interred at the Imam Reza Shrine.
Prior to the burial, a “major farewell ceremony” is expected to be held in Tehran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced on its Telegram account. No official date for the burial has been released.
Following Khamenei’s death, power has been temporarily handed over to a three-member council until the Assembly of Experts selects a permanent successor. The interim council comprises the President, the Chief Justice, and a jurist from the Guardian Council, which oversees legislation and vets election candidates.
Fars, citing an official familiar with the process, reported that for security reasons, the final meeting of the council may be postponed until after Khamenei’s burial.
Meanwhile, Iranian media reported that a building housing 88 members of the Assembly of Experts in the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, was hit by US-Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday. The Supreme Leader’s main office in Tehran had also been targeted in attacks the previous day.
The death of Khamenei marks a significant turning point for Iran, with the country’s leadership structure now temporarily managed by the interim council amid ongoing regional tensions.
