Tehran. In Iran, the funeral rituals of the country’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a joint military action by America and Israel on February 28 this year, have started.
A special red flag has been placed near Khamenei’s coffin. The new commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Brigadier General Ahmed Vahidi, appeared in public for the first time before the funeral of the late leader began.
According to Al Jazeera report, IRGC commander Ahmed Wahidi appeared in public for the first time after the war with America. He was seen near Ayatollah Khamenei’s coffin the night before his funeral procession (which begins on July 4).
The mortal remains of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have reached Husseini Imam Khomeini in Tehran for a farewell ceremony. Husseini Imam Khomeini is a major religious and political gathering place located in Tehran. Ali Khamenei has led the country for more than three decades.
The new head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Brigadier General Ahmed Vahidi, has replaced predecessor Mohammed Pakpour. Pakpour was killed in the initial US-Israeli attacks on Iran. Vahidi attended the funeral of former supreme leader Khamenei on Thursday night.
Vahidi, who has been associated with the IRGC since its inception in the late 1970s, rose to senior positions in the 1980s and played important roles in the intelligence and military departments.
He led the Quds Force from 1988 to 1997. Later, Vahidi handed over this role to Iran’s famous commander Qasim Sulemani. Soleimani was killed in an airstrike on the orders of US President Donald Trump in 2020.
In December 2025, Supreme Leader Khamenei appointed Vahidi as deputy head of the IRGC. Wahidi has also held senior political roles. He was the Defense Minister during the tenure of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and then the Interior Minister during the tenure of late President Ibrahim Raisi.
The special red flag of the Imam Reza shrine has been placed on the coffin of late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Nader Hashmi, associate professor of Middle East and Islamic politics at Georgetown University, believes that the red flag symbolizes the sacrifice of Hussein ibn Ali. Hussein ibn Ali is the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.
He was killed in the battle of Karbala. Hashmi said, “His death and martyrdom in the Battle of Karbala is an important moral reference point for Shia Muslims.
That is why the Islamic Republic of Iran is trying to compare the death of its supreme leader with the American and Israeli attacks.”
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