Iran officials ‘afraid to bury’ assassinated Supreme Leader months after death | World | News
May 31, 2019 file photo shows Mujtaba Khamenei, son of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, participates in a demonstration to celebrate Quds day in Tehran. (Photo: Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images) (Image: NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Reports suggest that Iranian officials were “afraid to bury” the slain Supreme Leader months after his death.
Ali Khamenei, 86, was killed in a joint US-Israeli airstrike on February 28, triggering a US-Iran war; his son was subsequently appointed as his successor.
The cleric’s body has not yet been buried, breaking a long-standing tradition. According to the New York Post.
A security expert claimed that the delay was because Tehran was too scared to proceed with the funeral.
At the last state funeral for his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in 1989, millions of Iranians took to the streets of Tehran to mourn; But similar displays of grief for Khamenei have been largely absent throughout weeks of airstrikes across Iran that have killed many of the regime’s most senior figures.
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According to reports, holding a ceremony would risk potential Israeli air strikes, nationalist counter-demonstrations similar to nationwide uprisings earlier this year, and force the regime to account for the conspicuous absence of Khamenei’s son and newly appointed religious leader, Mujtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since taking office.
Taleblu continued: “It speaks volumes that the regime had such a large turnout at the founding father’s funeral in 1989, but a generation later his successor was still unable to hold a funeral more than a month after his death.”
“The Islamic Republic likes to make a big game of owning the streets, but a 50-day internet blackout tells you all you need to know. The regime is afraid of the consequences if the truth comes out.”
Iranian authorities are currently considering the remote, northeastern city of Mashhad as a possible burial site, The Australian reported, according to Persian state media.
This video, taken on January 13, 2026, from UGC footage published on social media on January 10, 2026, shows clashes in Mashhad, northeastern Iran. At least 648 people died in a violent crackdown on a wave of protests in Iran on January 12, 2026, as Iranian authorities sought to regain control of the streets with mass rallies across the country, a human rights group said. (Photo: UGC / AFP via Getty Images) / ISRAEL RELEASED / EDITORIAL USE LIMITED – MANDATORY CREDIT AFP – SOURCE: ANONYMOUS – NO MARKETING – NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS – DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CUSTOMERS – NO RESALE – NO ARCHIVES – ISRAELI MEDIA/PERSISTAN LANGUAGE NO ACCESS TO TV STATIONS FROM OUTSIDE IRAN/ ABSOLUTELY NO ACCESS BBC PERSIAN/ VOA PERSIAN/ MANOTO-1 TV/ IRAN INTERNATIONAL/RADIO FARDA – AFP IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DIGITAL CHANGES TO THE EDITORIAL CONTENT OF THE PHOTO / (Image: UGC/AFP via Getty Images)
Iranian authorities are currently considering the remote, northeastern city of Mashhad as a possible burial site, The Australian reported, according to Persian state media.
Located on the border with Turkmenistan and away from Israel, Mashhad is Khamenei’s birthplace and has both practical and symbolic importance.
According to reports, one proposal under consideration is for Khamenei to be buried near the mausoleum, which benefits from a significant security presence that would ensure the protection of the long-serving leader’s final resting place.
The Islamic Republic had originally planned a three-day state funeral to begin on March 4, but this never came to fruition after the country was subjected to extensive bombing campaigns by Israel and the United States, according to state news agency Irna.
No date has been confirmed for Khamenei’s funeral.
The United States and Iran reached an agreement on April 8 on a temporary ceasefire that will end on Wednesday.
