ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The funeral ceremony for Iran’s late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is expected to take place in mid-June, more than three months after he was killed, an official said Tuesday, with burial planned in his hometown of Mashhad.

On February 28, Ali Khamenei, Iran’s long-ruling supreme leader, 86, from Mashhad, was killed in a US-Israeli strike on his compound in Tehran. He served as Iran’s highest political and religious authority for nearly 37 years, making him the country’s longest-serving leader since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Since his death in late February, no official funeral ceremony has been held for Khamenei.

“The burial place of the martyred Imam will be in the holy shrine of Imam Reza (peace be upon him) according to his will and the advice of his relatives, and he will rest there,” Mohammad Amin Tavakolizadeh, deputy mayor of Tehran, was cited by the state-owned IRNA news agency as saying. 

The funeral ceremony is set to take place in Tehran, Qom and Mashhad, he added, noting that authorities are “preparing for a crowd of more than 15 million to 20 million people in the capital.”

“A three-day mourning period has been planned for the martyred leader,” he asserted, adding that the Tehran ceremony is expected to last at least 24 hours.

Khamenei was a leading opponent of the US and Israel, advancing the Islamic republic’s ideology by supporting regional proxies against both countries, and calling for their elimination.

Khamenei’s son, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who was elected as the new supreme leader, has not made any public appearances since assuming the position. Only written statements and letters have been published under his name.

This has given rise to speculation that he was severely wounded in the same strike, raising doubts regarding his effective control over the country's affairs.

In late May, the Islamic Development Coordination Council ordered the formation of a special committee to organize Khamenei’s funeral ceremony.