How Iran used Ali Khamenei’s funeral as a political and diplomatic tool

By Marzieh Kouhi-Esfahani, Assistant Professor in Politics and International Relations of the Middle East, Durham University

Ali Khamenei, who served as Iran’s supreme leader until his assassination in a US-Israeli operation in February 2026, will finally be laid to rest today. His burial brings a week of public mourning ceremonies and processions to an end, and comes as hostilities between the US and Iran are escalating again.

Islamic tradition calls for the prompt burial of the deceased. Iran’s first supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, was buried within three days of his death in…

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