A powerful general who leads Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps has surfaced publicly as Tehran prepared for the dayslong funeral for the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who was assassinated by US-Israeli attacks.
Photos published online by Iranian state media showed General Ahmad Vahidi attending a meeting about the funeral of Khamenei, 86, then sitting alongside his casket as Tehran’s religious leaders held a smaller service for him on Thursday night near the supreme leader’s former home in downtown Tehran.
Vahidi has become a major player in formulating Iran’s tough stance in negotiating a possible permanent end to the US-Israeli war on Iran, experts say.
He is believed to be part of a small clique in direct contact with Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen publicly after being reportedly wounded in the February 28 US-Israeli attacks that killed his father, the elder Khamenei.
Vahidi himself hasn’t been seen publicly since February 8, weeks before the war on Iran began.
Video published by Iranian state media showed the mourning ceremony for Khamenei near the Husseiniyah at his compound in Tehran.
A US-Israeli air strike in the war’s first moments on February 28 assassinated Khamenei and some of his family members.
State media said Khamenei’s body lay in a coffin on a stage, with red tulips lined up in front of it.
What appeared to be paper butterflies hung from the ceiling in front of it.
The black-clad mourners, whom state media identified as coming from families of those who lost loved ones in the 12-day war in 2025 and the recent Iran war, threw scarves and other items for attendants to brush against the coffin, a common practice in Iran.
Beginning on Saturday, Iran will hold a days-long funeral for Khamenei, and his body will be transported to cities in both Iran and neighbouring Iraq.
The funeral will begin at the Grand Mosalla in Tehran, where authorities plan to shut down streets and daily life as mourners commemorate the life of Khamenei, who led Iran for decades with an iron fist while confronting the West.
