Latest update:Jul 5, 2026 7:28 am EST
Authorities are taking precautions, with estimates that between 1,500 and 3,000 people could die from overcrowding and the heat.
News18
Iranian authorities are reportedly developing contingency plans to deal with potential accidents and overcrowding during the week-long funeral procession and burial of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Welt said authorities were taking precautions and concluded that between 1,500 and 3,000 people could die from overcrowding and heat.
The Iranian Red Crescent and the National Crisis Management Organization shared these concerns in a confidential letter to First Vice President Mohammad Reza Arif. The letter warns that extreme heat and a funeral procession involving hundreds of thousands of people could lead to large-scale stampedes and disasters. As part of this, more than 5,000 additional graves have already been installed at the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in Tehran, the report said, citing a Tehran municipality official. A special coordinating committee has been created to work with the bodies of the dead and search for missing persons in the event of an accident.
Ali Khamenei, 86, his family members and senior officials were killed in an Israeli airstrike on February 28. Khamenei’s coffin will be on public display in Tehran for three days. It will then be transferred to the holy city of Hom on Tuesday and to neighboring Iraq on Wednesday. Cremation is planned for Thursday in his hometown of Mashhad. His daughter, son-in-law and grandson, who died in the attack, will be buried with him.
These precautions were taken after the 2020 tragedy during the funeral procession for Iranian army general Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone attack. At least 56 people were killed and more than 200 injured in a stampede in Kerman, Soleimani’s hometown.
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