TEHRAN, July 3. /TASS/. People wishing to pay their last respects to Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are beginning to arrive in Tehran from across the country, a TASS correspondent reported.
Iranians are gathering in the capital’s main squares, including Enghelab and Valiasr, as well as near the Imam Khomeini Mosalla, Tehran’s largest religious and public venue. The farewell ceremony for the slain leader will begin at 6:00 a.m. local time on July 4 and continue until 8:00 p.m. on July 5.
People attending the mourning event will enter the religious complex through a designated entrance, bid farewell to the deceased and leave the public area within 15 minutes. The remains of the slain leader and his family members will lie in state on an elevated dais visible from all parts of the Mosalla’s main courtyard, galleries and the roof of the prayer hall.
Iranian Red Crescent Society teams, police officers, members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and army servicemen have been deployed to the area. Walking routes have been organized on the approaches to the Mosalla, with tents offering free food and drinks. Tank trucks supplying drinking water are also parked around the venue.
Earlier, farewell ceremonies for Ali Khamenei, killed in US-Israeli strikes, began in Tehran. High-level delegations from at least 100 countries attended a mourning event on Friday. The supreme leader’s body will lie in state at the Grand Mosalla of Tehran on July 4-5, allowing the public to pay their respects. On July 6, a funeral procession will take place through downtown Tehran before the remains are transferred to the city of Qom, Iran's main religious center, where mourning ceremonies are scheduled for July 7. On July 8, Khamenei’s remains will be taken to Iraq for separate farewell ceremonies in the cities of Karbala and Najaf for the country’s Shia Muslims to participate. The burial is scheduled for July 9 in his hometown of Mashhad.