Mojtaba Khamenei is not expected to appear at his father’s funeral. He was badly hurt in the same US-Israeli strike that killed Ali Khamenei, and that strike also killed Mojtaba’s wife and their 14-month-old daughter, the Guardian reported. How serious his injuries are has not been made public. So far he has communicated only in writing.
One of those written statements distanced him from the ceasefire negotiations while allowing them to continue. This week, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened to kill him, saying he was “marked for death.”
A six-day funeral
Preparations for Ali Khamenei’s funeral were being finished as of July 3. The ceremony begins Saturday in Tehran and ends with his burial on Thursday in Mashhad. At the request of Iraqi politicians, his body will also be carried through the Shia cities of Karbala and Najaf in Iraq.
Iran’s first vice-president, Mohammad Reza Aref, is the lead organiser. He called it “the most important event of this century” and said it would be the best-attended event since the 1979 revolution. The Guardian said millions are expected, and that the scale was designed to send political and religious messages of resistance abroad.
Katz and Araghchi trade threats
Katz’s remark drew a sharp reply from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who told the United States to “muzzle its pets in Tel Aviv,” according to the National Security Journal. Araghchi pointed to the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding and said Washington had committed to restraining Israeli escalation. Any threat against Iranian leadership, he said, would get an immediate response.
Katz had said Israel will stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and will respond to any new Iranian attack, with or without US participation. He said the IDF is on alert with target sets prepared.
The exchange came on the day indirect US-Iran talks began in Doha. Qatar is mediating and Pakistan is involved. Reuters reported that the technical agenda includes frozen Iranian assets, Strait of Hormuz arrangements and implementation of the interim framework. The National Security Journal’s Harrison Kass wrote that targeting a supreme leader is fundamentally different from threatening military infrastructure, and that the spat shows how fragile the implementation of any deal is.
Sources
- First Thing: Iran to show defiance in six-day funeral for supreme leader
- Iran Just Told America to “Muzzle Its Pets in Tel Aviv” After Israel Declared Its Supreme Leader Was “Marked for Death”
