Tehran: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has formally extended an invitation to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the multi-city state funeral and burial ceremonies of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Diplomatic sources confirmed that the official invitation was delivered to India’s Ministry of External Affairs by the Iranian Embassy in New Delhi. While the invitation marks a highly delicate geopolitical moment for India’s foreign policy, New Delhi has not yet officially confirmed its level of representation or whether the Prime Minister will travel to Iran.
The extensive funeral services are scheduled to take place across multiple cities from July 4 to July 9. The ceremonies will begin in Tehran and pass through the holy city of Qom before concluding with the final burial in the northeastern city of Mashhad, the hometown of the late leader. Although Islamic tradition generally requires immediate burial, authorities permitted a delayed timeline due to the intense conflict that gripped West Asia following the targeted strikes. The multi-day event is expected to draw tens of millions of mourners alongside numerous foreign delegations, including high-level representatives from China and Pakistan.
The diplomatic outreach follows months of intense regional volatility triggered after the 86-year-old Supreme Leader, who ruled the Islamic Republic for over three decades, was killed on February 28 during the opening wave of massive, joint United States and Israeli airstrikes on Tehran. Following a recently mediated peace agreement signed in Switzerland between Washington and Tehran to halt the combat, Iran has begun organizing the postponed state transitions. India, which previously maintained neutrality by expressing condolences through Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, is currently weighing its strategic bilateral commitments, including its investments in the Chabahar Port, as it decides on its official response to the funeral invitation.
