File image.
Ali Abdollahi, commander of Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, warned the United States and Israel on July 2 against any attack as the Islamic Republic prepares for the state funeral of Supreme Leader ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in Israeli strikes on February 28, in the opening attack of the war.
“We warn the enemies of Iran, especially the US and the Zionist regime, to avoid any miscalculation and to think about the harsh retaliation our armed forces would make to any threat and aggression against our country,” the commander said in a statement carried by state media.
A day earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi warned that the Islamic Republic will deliver an immediate and powerful response to any threat against its people or leadership.
The warning was a response to comments by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz who said that Iran’s current Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was “marked for death.”
Funeral processions for Khamenei is set to begin on July 4 in the Iranian capital, Tehran, and will conclude on July 9 with his burial in his hometown of Mashhad, with additional ceremonies planned in the holy city of Qom, as well as Iraq.
The ceremonies are expected to draw 15 to 20 million mourners, which would make it the biggest state funeral in the history of the Islamic Republic.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev will reportedly attend the funeral.
Iran’s chief negotiator and parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf called on the people of Tehran to come out en masse to pay respects to the late leader.
“I invite all the Iranian people… to write a glorious page in the history of Islamic Iran through your presence” at the funeral, he said. “The nation’s call for vengeance must ring in the ears of the whole world.”
“Iran… is preparing to experience one of the most significant moments in its history,” he added.
Khamenei — born April 19, 1939, in Mashhad — rose from a modest clerical family and became a key figure in Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution as a close ally of Ayatollah Khomeini; he served as President from 1981 to 1989 — surviving an assassination attempt that paralyzed his right arm — before succeeding Khomeini as Supreme Leader.
His long rule shaped Iran’s foreign policy, nuclear ambitions, and support for regional allies, while facing domestic opposition, international sanctions, and health challenges.
While the U.S. appears largely committed to the memorandum of understanding to end the war, a provocation by Israel — either in the lead-up to or even during the upcoming funeral — is very likely. Displeased with the deal, Israel has been actively trying to undermine it since the U.S. and Iran signed it last month.
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