Ali Khamenis body likely in cold storage as Iran prepares historic funeral for Supreme Leader killed in Operation Epic Fury

Tehran is preparing for the July 9 burial of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, more than four months after his death, as authorities mobilize the Basij militia and mount a massive security operation ahead of what is expected to be a “historic” turnout.The lengthy delay to the funeral has raised questions about how Khamenei’s remains have been preserved, as Islamic tradition, analysts say, generally calls for prompt burial and discourages chemical embalming.“The mechanism is almost certainly refrigerated cold storage, not embalming, as Islam bars chemical embalming,” counterterrorism expert Dr.Mohammed Omar told Fox News Digital.“Shia law allows delayed burial and preservation by cold in exceptional cases, and a clerical exemption for a Supreme Leader is easy to get,” he added.“Iran’s forensic morgues already hold bodies for months, so four months in freezing is not exotic.

That is what ‘religious and legal standards’ cover,” Mohammed said.Operation Epic Fury began on Feb.28 with a targeted U.S.

strike that killed Khamenei at his compound in Tehran.He had ruled the Islamic Republic for 36 years.“There may not be much of a body to present.

Khamenei was killed by a bunker-penetration strike, and others killed with him were recovered weeks later and identified by DNA,” Mohammed explained.“A regime holding an intact body does not cancel the farewell, shift the burial site repeatedly, and confirm that he can be buried only days out.“It reads less like reverence and more like remains they could preserve but not display,” he said.With that, Iranian authorities are portraying the funeral as both a farewell to the leader and a show of strength under the slogan “We Must Avenge.”According to Iranian state media, Yaqoub Soleimani, deputy for cultural and educational affairs at the Martyrs Foundation and one of the funeral’s organizers, said Wednesday the ceremony would be conducted “with full grandeur.”Soleimani said a turnout of 1 milli...