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State Funeral of Ayatollah Khamenei and India-Iran Relations

Thursday, June 25, 2026
5 min read
State Funeral of Ayatollah Khamenei and India-Iran Relations

Masoud Pezeshkian invited Prime Minister Modi to Iran for the state funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. It was a big move.

Khamenei died in that US-Israeli airstrike back on February 28th.

The ceremonies, originally planned for March, had to get pushed back because everything else in the region was just too messy right then. Now they’re stretched out over several days in July across different Iranian cities.

The state funeral itself is slated to kick off on July 4th. His body will be lying in state at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla complex for a bit.

Public processions are planned for Tehran and Qom, obviously. Prayers are also being organized in the Iraqi holy cities of Najaf and Karbala. The final burial ceremony? That's set for July 9th at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, Khamenei’s hometown.

Authorities expect millions to show up. It marks a formal farewell to a leader who shaped Iran’s political system for nearly forty years. A lot of people are expected.

It was supposed to happen between March 4 and 6, 2026. But the war just threw that timeline off completely.

India has always had those close ties with Iran. They see it as part of their extended neighbourhood, some deep civilisational connections there. That history sticks around.

Modi and S Jaishankar have been having these discussions with Iranian leaders over the last forty days, dealing with the conflict in West Asia. It’s all connected now.

Remember earlier stuff? After Ebrahim Raisi died in that helicopter crash, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar led an Indian delegation to Tehran for his state funeral on May 22nd, 2024. That was already a significant event.

India also sent a high-level group over after Raisi’s death in May of '24. New Delhi declared a national mourning period then. Flags lowered.

Later that year, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari traveled to Iran in July 2024. He went there specifically for the swearing-in ceremony of President Masoud Pezeshkian. A bit of political maneuvering happening in parallel.

Amid all this fragile ceasefire noise, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi recently made a trip to New Delhi. He was there for the BRICS Foreign Ministers’ meeting.

During that visit, he actually held talks with S Jaishankar and even met Prime Minister Modi. It seems senior Iranian officials have been making these trips lately, especially when New Delhi hosts those BRICS gatherings.

Iran has extended invitations out to a bunch of other countries for the ceremonies. They are really emphasizing the neighbours. State media said several nations already confirmed they’d send people or were planning to show up.

Delegations expected from Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon, Russia, China, and a few Central Asian states. A wide spread of involvement. It's certainly not just Iran alone watching this happen.

Written by Gree News Team — Senior Editorial Board

Gree News Team covers international news and global affairs at Gree News. Our collective of senior editors is dedicated to providing independent, accurate, and responsible journalism for a global audience.

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