Photo: Siasat Daily
Tehran: The Iranian Embassy in India has criticised some Indian media for reporting that 3,000 graves had been prepared for the funeral of Iran’s late Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, describing the claim as unfounded.
The embassy responded after NDTV India aired a Hindi report that referred to a July 4 article published by the German newspaper WELT. In posts on X, the embassy accused some media outlets of spreading an unverified narrative based on anonymous sources rather than official information, Siasat Daily reported.
It said certain reports appeared to be focusing on speculative casualty figures instead of the scale of the funeral ceremonies and added that no Iranian official had announced the preparation of 3,000 graves. The embassy maintained that there was no official statement from Iranian authorities supporting such claims.
According to WELT, a classified communication from the Iranian Red Crescent and the National Crisis Management Organisation to First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Aref had projected between 1,500 and 3,000 possible deaths during the week-long funeral events under a worst-case scenario. The newspaper also reported that a special unit had been created to manage fatalities and missing persons and that thousands of new graves had allegedly been prepared at Tehran’s Behesht-e Zahra cemetery. It cited a Tehran municipality employee, identified anonymously, who claimed that colleagues at the city’s crisis headquarters had confirmed the preparations.
The Iranian Embassy did not directly respond to the details of WELT’s report but said authorities had spent weeks preparing security and logistical arrangements to ensure the safety of that ceremony and that it was conducted in an orderly manner. It added that millions of mourners had participated without major incident and argued that publishing unverified claims based on anonymous sources damages media credibility.
Iran began public funeral ceremonies for Khamenei on July 4 and 5 at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Mosalla prayer grounds, where millions of mourners and delegations from more than 100 countries were present. Funeral processions continued in Tehran on July 6 before moving to Qom, Baghdad, Najaf and Karbala. Khamenei is scheduled to be buried at the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad on July 9.