ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Tehran’s mayor on Wednesday denied that plans for a funeral ceremony within Iraq for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei have been finalized, saying the proposal is still under review and no arrangements have been confirmed yet.

The developments followed by Alireza Zakani's earlier statement on Wednesday, saying that the days-long farewell and funeral ceremony for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will visit Iraq.

Soon after, Zakani said the updates regarding the late supreme leader’s Iraq funeral “were published incompletely and have shortcomings,” the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted him as saying.

The mayor claimed that Tehran has received several requests from Baghdad to also host a funeral for Khamenei and said, “This proposal is being reviewed by the relevant authorities,” while adding that “no ceremony has been finalized for this purpose so far.”

“The final and definitive plans for the ceremony will be communicated to the dear people” by Khamenei’s office later, Zakani said.

Tehran on Saturday announced that the late Iranian Supreme Leader is set to be buried in his hometown of Mashhad on July 9, over 130 days after he was killed in a US-Israeli strike in February.

The funeral ceremonies will begin in Tehran on July 4-5, continue in Qom on July 7, and conclude on the 9. 

Earlier in May, Mohammad Abiri, an official from the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad, was cited as claiming that nearly one million people from Iraqi cities had requested to attend Khamenei’s funeral, with more than 500,000 Iraqis expected to enter Iran to participate, Fars news agency reported.

On February 28, Ali Khamenei, 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.

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.