Report: Mojtaba Khamenei wants to attend father's burial, but Iran fears Israel could target him there
The six-day procession has drawn Iran’s allies and terror proxies, but the late supreme leader’s son remains out of sight amid security fears and succession uncertainty
Mojtaba Khamenei wants to emerge from hiding for his father’s July 9 burial in Mashhad, but Iranian security officials have so far rejected the idea over fears that Israel could kill him at the ceremony or use the appearance to track him back to his hideout, The New York Times reported Saturday.
The report, citing two Revolutionary Guards members and a person involved in planning the funeral, said Khamenei, 56, has told officials he wants to appear at the July 9 burial at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad and recite the prayer for the dead over his father’s body.
All three sources spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive preparations, according to the Times. The report said Mojtaba was also absent Wednesday from a memorial ceremony for his wife, teenage son and other relatives killed on the first day of the war, when Israeli and U.S. strikes hit the family compound.
Iran launched a six-day funeral procession for former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday, nearly four months after he was killed in the opening strike of the U.S.-Israeli war. The ceremonies began at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla prayer complex and are due to pass through major Shiite sites before the burial in Mashhad, in what Tehran is staging as a mass display of regime continuity and defiance.
Senior Iranian officials and foreign allies have appeared at the ceremonies, including delegations from Russia, China, Pakistan and Iraq, as well as senior representatives of Iran-backed terror groups. The Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad all sent figures to pay respects, underscoring the regime’s regional network even as the man widely seen as Khamenei’s heir remained out of public view.