Iran’s late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, killed Saturday in US-Israeli strikes, will be buried in the holy city of Mashhad, several Iranian news agencies reported on Tuesday.
Khamenei, who died at 86 after leading the regime for 36 years, was originally from Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city, where his father is buried at the Imam Reza shrine, according to AFP.
No date for the burial was disclosed.
After Khamenei's death, power was transferred temporarily to a group of three-man interim council.
The council includes President Masoud Pezeshkian, Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei and senior conservative cleric Alireza Arafi, a member of the Guardian Council and head of Iran’s seminaries.
Khamenei took the helm in Iran in 1989, following the death of Khomeini.
According to Iran’s constitution, the new supreme leader will be elected by the Assembly of Experts, composed of 88 clerics. All candidates must first be vetted by the Guardian Council for religious and political qualifications.
Fars, citing an official familiar with the process, reported that “for security reasons,” the assembly's final meeting could be postponed until after Khamenei's burial.
A joint US-Israel strike, launched Saturday on Tehran, killed Khamenei and targeted key military and leadership infrastructure.
Iranian media said the building housing the 88-member body in the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, was hit Tuesday by US-Israeli strikes.
