Iran Holds Historic Khamenei Funeral as Basij Mobilizes
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- Khamenei's body is being held in cold storage ahead of a historic Iran funeral planned to span six days across two countries, with the feared Basij paramilitary mobilizing around the proceedings.
- Leaders from Pakistan, India, Russia, and China will attend the funeral, with India confirming it will send both a minister and a governor as part of its delegation.
Why it matters: Six days of coordinated mourning across two countries and the deployment of the Basij paramilitary signals Tehran is treating this as a high-stakes national moment rather than a routine sendoff. The convergence of leaders from nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan alongside Russia and China makes the gathering a rare cross-bloc diplomatic event compressed into a single mourning period.
