Millions gathered in Tehran on July 4, 2026, for the funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Islamic Republic's supreme leader for over thirty years. His son and appointed successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, had not confirmed his attendance at any part of the ceremonies, according to DW and Al Jazeera.

The event drew unprecedented numbers. Over 100 foreign delegations, including 12 parliamentary groups, had arrived in Tehran by July 3, PressTV reported, with more than 90 countries prepared to participate. Ceremonies took place across Tehran, Qom, and Mashhad, with proceedings in Iraq as well. The final burial is scheduled for July 9 at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad — timed to coincide with the eve of Imam Reza's martyrdom anniversary, a religious symmetry that Iranian state media emphasized when announcing the schedule on June 13, per PressTV.

A Succession in Doubt

Mojtaba Khamenei was named supreme leader on or around March 8, 2026, immediately after his father's death, according to the New York Times. The appointment faced opposition from the start. Ali Larijani, a senior political figure and former parliament speaker, argued against the choice and appealed to the Assembly of Experts—the council of clerics who have the constitutional power to select and supervise the supreme leader—before the decision was made official, the Times reported on March 18.

Since then, Mojtaba has been out of sight. By March 30, he had made no public appearances and it was unclear how much actual control he held over the government, the Times noted. By April 23, he had not shown his face in public or released any audio recordings of his voice, per a subsequent Times report. Nearly four months into his leadership, whether he would even appear at his own father's state funeral—an event drawing heads of state and parliamentary delegations from around the world—remained uncertain.

An official identified as Eslami told Al Jazeera that the new supreme leader's likely absence was necessary, though without explaining why. This language—framing the absence as something required rather than chosen—carries weight. In post-revolutionary Iran, it has occasionally happened that senior figures are kept from public view during periods of acute security threats or institutional reorganization.

What Invisible Authority Means

There is a fundamental tension built into Iran's system of government. Iran's supreme leader holds power under a principle called velayat-e faqih, or rule by the supreme jurist. The system depends on one person holding both religious and political authority—a figure whose moral standing is clear and visible to ordinary Iranians. An invisible supreme leader breaks that logic.

The funeral's large international attendance may shield Iran from criticism that it is isolated from the world. But the domestic picture is harder to manage. For ordinary Iranians and for the networks of power within the Revolutionary Guard Corps, the clerical establishment, and the government bureaucracy, an unseen, unheard supreme leader creates confusion about who actually has power. Decisions still get made, but people cannot easily tell who authorized them or challenge them.

Reports from April already suggested that military generals and institutional leaders were stepping into the gap left by Mojtaba's absence. This pattern occurs elsewhere too: when formal power is supposed to rest with one person but that person is unreachable, other actors tend to grab real power quickly and hold onto it even after the nominal leader resurfaces. The central question for Iran in the second half of 2026 is whether Mojtaba will eventually step forward to claim authority—or whether he will become a figurehead whose name legitimizes decisions made by others behind the scenes.

His decision to skip his father's funeral, the most visible stage any new supreme leader could occupy, is a telling sign of the turbulence ahead.