Shafaq News- Baghdad
Iraq has imposed restrictions on funeral ceremonies for late IranianSupreme Leader Ali Khamenei, limiting locations and excluding senior Iranianmilitary figures over security concerns, Iraqi sources told Shafaq News onSunday.
The restrictions reportedly bar participation by senior commanders ofIran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including Quds Force chiefEsmail Qaani, while confining any ceremonies to the holy cities of Najaf andKarbala.
‘’Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi pushed back against holding any ceremoniesin Baghdad,’’ the source added, citing security concerns and politicalsensitivity linked to regional tensions.
Another source also said that Iraqi authorities had notified Tehran thatno Iranian military officials would be allowed to attend, in order to avoidpotential security complications and political messaging tied to the event.
‘’Iraqi officials view the ceremonies as carrying implications beyondtheir religious character,’’ he explained, warning they could be interpreted asa display of Iranian influence in Iraq at a time when Baghdad is trying topreserve a careful regional balance.
Meanwhile, the Coordination Framework (CF), Iraq’s main Shiite politicalalliance, refuted the claims that Qaani had been barred from entering thecountry or attending the funeral ceremonies in Najaf and Karbala.
Speaking to Shafaq News, Amer al-Fayez, head of the Tasmim Alliance anda senior figure within the Framework, underlined that Qaani has not engaged inany conduct that would justify restricting his presence in Iraq, dismissing thereports as misleading and aimed at straining ties between Baghdad and Tehran,which he noted remain grounded in shared interests.
Khamenei was killed on February 28 in a joint US-Israeli strike on his compound incentral Tehran, ending a 37-year tenure as supreme leader. Iraq's role in thefuneral is confined to the provinces of Najaf and Karbala, two cities centralto Shiite religious life, where organizers expect mass participation.
Under the schedule outlined, Khamenei's body will be flown from theIranian holy city of Qom to Najaf International Airport, then taken to theshrine of Imam Ali for farewell rites. The procession will continue to Karbala—home to the shrine of Imam Hussein bin Ali, another of Shiite Islam's holiestsites— passing along Al-Abbas Street to the area between the two shrines,before the body returns to Najaf airport for transfer to the Iranian city ofMashhad, where Khamenei is to be buried at the shrine of Imam Ali bin Mousaal-Rida (Imam Reza) on July 9.
Official funeral ceremonies began in Tehran on Friday and are scheduledto continue for about a week before burial, according to the committeeorganizing the ceremonies.
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