Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Dies at 86; Iran Begins Multi-Day Funeral

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei died at age 86. Iran will hold a seven-day funeral for him beginning Saturday, with his body transported to cities in both Iran and neighboring Iraq. Authorities plan to shut down streets, airspace and daily life in Tehran during the funeral period.

On Friday morning security forces carried Khamenei's coffin, draped in the Iranian flag, by hand to the Grand Mosalla in Tehran. Religious leaders, officials and foreign dignitaries filed past the coffin and those of slain family members, including his 14-month-old granddaughter Zahra Mohammadi Golpayegani.

A smaller service was held Thursday night near the former supreme leader's home in downtown Tehran.

At that service Khamenei's body lay in a coffin on a stage with red tulips in front of it and what appeared to be paper butterflies hanging from the ceiling. Mourners identified by state media as families who lost relatives in the 12-day war in 2025 and the recent Iran war threw scarves and other items toward the coffin.

The casket was later draped with a red flag bearing white calligraphy reading "Ya Hussein" that had flown over the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala, Iraq.

Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, appeared publicly for the first time since Feb. 8, 2025, at the Thursday service. Iranian state media showed him attending a meeting about the funeral and sitting alongside the casket.

ABC News reported that Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei is the new supreme leader.