Are Iranian officials scared, why can’t they bury Ali Khamenei yet?

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (86 years old) was killed in a joint air strike by the US and Israel on February 28. After this attack, a major conflict started in Iran. Now even after the passage of more than a month, the place and date of burial of his body has not been decided.

The Iranian government had initially planned to hold a three-day funeral on March 4, but this plan was canceled due to continued US and Israeli bombings and attacks. Later, officials said that such a large crowd is expected, hence the delay in preparations, but no new date has been announced yet.

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Millions of people had gathered

In 1989, tens of thousands of people gathered in the streets of Tehran during the funeral of Khamenei’s predecessor, Ruhollah Khomeini, but crowds have not been as large since Khamenei’s death. Especially because many of Iran’s top leaders have been killed in airstrikes in the past few weeks.

“To put it bluntly, the Iranian government is so scared and weak right now that it doesn’t want to take a big risk,” said Behnam Taleblou, an expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Officials have several concerns

He added that in 1989, the funeral of the founding leader was attended by huge crowds but his successor a generation later was not cremated even after a month. “The Islamic Republic talks about showing its full force on the streets, but shutting down the Internet for 50 days shows that the government is afraid of the truth coming out,” Talebloo told the New York Post.

Currently, Iranian officials are facing several concerns such as the threat of Israeli airstrikes, the possibility of nationalist protests, etc. Khamenei’s son Mujtaba Khamenei has now become the new Supreme Leader, but has not been seen in public.

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Mashhad is considered to be a city

According to state media, the city of Mashad may be chosen to bury Khamenei. Mashhad is the hometown of Khamenei. It is close to the border with Turkmenistan and quite far from Israel. There is the tomb of Imam Raza, a very holy place for Shia Muslims. Security is also stronger than ever.

Meanwhile, a temporary peace deal was signed between the US and Iran on April 8, which is set to expire this Wednesday.