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Iran has delayed the scheduled farewell ceremony in Tehran for its late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who perished on Saturday in joint U.S.-Israeli airstrikes, an operation known as Epic Fury.
The tribute was initially set to span three days, commencing on Wednesday at 10 p.m. local time at the Imam Khomeini Prayer Hall. This venue was anticipated to host large numbers of mourners wishing to honor the deceased leader, as reported by Tasnim, a semi-official news outlet in Iran.
Hojjatoleslam Seyed Mohsen Mahmoudi, who heads the Islamic Propaganda Coordination Council for Tehran Province, stated that the decision to defer the ceremony stemmed from numerous requests for participation. This necessitated ensuring that the infrastructure and facilities were adequately prepared to accommodate the expected turnout.
“We have resolved to conduct the ceremony at a more suitable time,” Mahmoudi mentioned.
In the meantime, Iranian worshipers have been seen praying beneath a massive portrait of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the Imam Khomeini Mosque in Tehran, as captured in a photograph dated December 9, 2022, by Morteza Nikoubazl for NurPhoto via Getty Images.
No additional reason for the postponement was given, and it was not immediately clear when the ceremony would be rescheduled.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Iranian leadership in a post on X that any successor who tries to “destroy Israel, to threaten the United States and the free world and the countries of the region, and to suppress the Iranian people” will be an “unequivocal target for elimination.”
“It does not matter what his name is or the place where he hides,” Katz said.
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 Nov. 24, 2025. (Scott Peterson/Getty Images)
The funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, drew massive crowds in the country’s capital on June 11, 1989, with an estimated 10.2 million people in attendance, roughly one-sixth of the nation’s population at the time.Â
According to Guinness World Records, it drew the largest percentage of a population ever recorded at a funeral.
A huge crowd gathers around the container covering Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s tomb at Behesht Zahra cemetery in Tehran on June 7, 1989. (Christophe Simon And Pascal George/AFP via Getty Images)
Khamenei’s death triggers a closely watched succession process overseen by Iran’s Assembly of Experts, the clerical body responsible for appointing the supreme leader.
“The IRGC is a key stakeholder in this process, and will heavily influence its outcome,” Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran, told Fox News Digital.
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