Iran postpones three-day funeral rites for late Ayatollah Khamenei
· France 24A senior Iranian official said Wednesday that Tehran would hold a public ceremony for citizens to pay their respects following the death of the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to state media.
Hojjatoleslam Mahmoudi, head of Iran’s Islamic Propagation Council, said the farewell ceremony would continue for three days and the funeral procession will be announced later.
The ceremony was originally scheduled to take place at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Prayer Hall starting at 10pm (1830 GMT) on Wednesday but was "postponed", state media said, without elaborating further.
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"The Mosalla (prayer hall) will be receiving visitors and the dear people can attend and take part in the farewell ceremony and mark a strong presence once again," he said in comments carried by Iranian media.
Iran's Khamenei, who based his iron rule of Iran on hostility to the US and Israel, was killed on Saturday, aged 86, in air strikes by Israel and the US, according to Iranian state media.
Read moreAyatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s hardline supreme leader, is dead at 86
Any successor to Iran's Khamenei 'target for assassination'
Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened on Wednesday to assassinate any Iranian leader picked to succeed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in US-Israeli strikes on Tehran.
Read more'The limits of American power': Will killing Khamenei bring regime change in Iran?
"Any leader selected by the Iranian terror regime to continue leading the plan for Israel's destruction, threatening the United States, the free world and countries in the region, and suppressing the Iranian people, will be a certain target for assassination, no matter his name or where he hides," Katz said in a post on X.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters, AFP)