Fresh speculation is mounting over whether Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei will make his first public appearance on Saturday after Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported that he is expected to lead a condolence ceremony for his late father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The ceremony, to be held following the passing of the late supreme leader, who was killed in military strikes on February 28, has drawn widespread international attention as Mojtaba has remained completely out of public view since the outbreak of the war.
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Will Mojtaba make a public appearance?
The announcement has triggered intense global scrutiny over whether Mojtaba will finally be seen in public to lead the prayers, given that official channels have released no photographs, video footage or audio recordings of him since he was designated as Iran’s new supreme leader.
Mojtaba was appointed by a clerical council in early March, one week after his father’s death. The political transition remains fraught with uncertainty due to his prolonged absence from public life.
Mojtaba sustained severe trauma during the military strike that claimed his father’s life, resulting in facial disfigurement and major injuries to his limbs, the report added.
While he is recovering, his condition has not improved enough to permit public appearances. They added that Iran’s state intelligence apparatus is also limiting his visibility due to lingering concerns over potential follow-up US military operations.
According to the Tasnim report, the condolence ceremony is scheduled to take place on Saturday after the Maghrib and Isha prayers. It will be held at the Imam Khomeini portico within the Hazrat Masumeh shrine in Qom.
Maghrib and Isha are the final two obligatory daily prayers (Salah) in Islam and are performed in succession from sunset until dawn.
Also Read | Iran buries Khamenei at Mashhad’s Imam Reza shrine 131 days after his killing in US strikes
What is happening?
The event follows the conclusion of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s funeral rites. State media reported that the late supreme leader was buried at the Shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad early on Friday, bringing to an end a week of massive funeral processions and nationwide mourning ceremonies across Iran and Iraq.
The funeral unfolded amid renewed tensions between Tehran and Washington following a weeks-long truce in the four-month-old conflict. Although a ceasefire was reached last month, the funeral events were widely promoted by Iran’s clerical establishment as a display of the Islamic Republic’s strength and ideological resolve.
The tense atmosphere surrounding the leadership transition was evident during Thursday’s funeral procession in Mashhad, where large crowds lined the route of the coffin.
Hostile chants were directed at US President Donald Trump, with participants shouting, “I swear by the blood of the supreme leader, Trump, we will kill you!” while several women displayed signs demanding to “Kill Trump.”
By nightfall, the central courtyard of the Shrine of Imam Reza was packed with mourners. Chants of “Death to America” echoed across the complex, interspersed with traditional elegies broadcast over loudspeakers.
Iran’s official IRNA news agency confirmed early on Friday that authorities had completed the burial of Khamenei and four family members who were killed in the same attack.
The transition comes at a pivotal moment for Iran, marking the end of nearly four decades of Khamenei’s rule and following months of nationwide protests against the country’s theocratic establishment.
