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Iran Conflict 2026
18JUL

Iran claims 100 nations, confirms two

2 min read
13:17UTC

Iran's Foreign Ministry claimed guests from around 100 countries, yet its own Tasnim agency could name only two foreign heads of state as Khamenei's casket reached Tehran.

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ConflictDeveloping
Key takeaway

Iran's claimed 100-country turnout collapses to two confirmed leaders, exposing its isolation.

Ali Khamenei's casket arrived at the Grand Mosalla in Tehran on 3 July, Iran's state agency IRNA reported, ahead of a deferred state funeral running 4 to 9 July. 1 Processions will run in Tehran, Qom and Mashhad and, for the first time, in Najaf and Karbala in Iraq, carrying the ceremony across the border into Shia Iraq. Al Jazeera reported that more than 20 million mourners are expected in Tehran. 2

Whether Mojtaba Khamenei, appointed Supreme Leader in March, will attend in person is unresolved. Funeral organiser Ali Akbar Pourjamshidia said the decision "lies entirely with the leader's office." 3 Mojtaba has not appeared publicly since 28 February, when the strike that killed his father also wounded him; Israel's defence minister Israel Katz called him a marked man on 1 July . Ali Abdollahi, commander of the IRGC's Khatam al-Anbiya headquarters, warned the United States and Israel against "any miscalculation" during the six days. 4

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said guests from "around 100 countries" were expected. Yet Iran's own semi-official Tasnim agency confirmed only two foreign heads of state by name: Pakistan's Shehbaz Sharif and Georgia's Mikheil Kavelashvili. 5 The 30-nation delegation list Tehran published on 1 July, which excluded every European government , has contracted in practice rather than grown towards the claim.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader for nearly four decades, was killed in an Israeli strike in February 2026. His son Mojtaba was appointed to succeed him weeks later, but the appointment was contested inside Iran's own clerical establishment because Mojtaba lacks the senior religious qualifications the role traditionally requires. Ali Khamenei's casket arrived at Tehran's Grand Mosalla, a huge outdoor prayer ground, ahead of a six-day state funeral. Iran's government says guests from around 100 countries are coming, but its own state news agency has only confirmed two foreign leaders by name: Pakistan's prime minister and Georgia's president. Funeral organiser Ali Akbar Pourjamshidia said the decision on whether Mojtaba appears in public rests entirely with the leader's office, with no confirmation either way as the funeral opened on 3 July.

Deep Analysis
Root Causes

Iran's constitution requires the Supreme Leader to hold marja status, senior religious scholarly authority, or an equivalent standing. Mojtaba Khamenei does not hold that rank, which is why eight of the Assembly of Experts members who confirmed him in an emergency online session on 7 March, held after Israeli strikes destroyed the Assembly's Qom headquarters, boycotted the vote and cited both the credentials gap and pressure from the IRGC.

That structural deficit, not simply factional politics, is why the funeral has become a vehicle for manufacturing visible recognition. Iran's foreign ministry had already excluded every European government from the funeral delegation list of more than thirty nations , which narrows the claimed 100-country turnout to non-Western recognition only, a signal aimed at the audience Tehran can still reliably assemble rather than the one it has lost.

What could happen next?
  • Risk

    If Mojtaba Khamenei does not appear at the funeral, the ambiguity over his authority deepens at the exact moment Iran needs a unified negotiating position for any Doha talks.

  • Precedent

    A funeral turnout skewed toward Russia, Pakistan and other non-Western states rather than a broad international bloc would confirm Iran's post-war diplomatic isolation extends into ceremonial as well as negotiating settings.

Sources:IRNA·Al Jazeera·India TV News
Mentions:Ali Khamenei →Grand Mosalla →Tehran →IRNA →Qom →Mashhad →Najaf →Karbala →Al Jazeera →Mojtaba Khamenei →Israel Katz →Esmaeil Baqaei →Tasnim →Shehbaz Sharif →Pakistan →Georgia →Iraq →Shia →Iran →Chatham House →Israel →Assembly of Experts →Kayhan →United States →Sanam Vakil →Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) →Ali Abdollahi →Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters →
First Reported In

Update #144 · Syria, Lebanon join a US defence table

IRNA· 3 Jul 2026
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Causes and effects
Caused by
Katz calls Iran's heir 'a dead man'
Katz's threat against Mojtaba Khamenei raises the stakes of any funeral appearance he might make.
Occurred 30 Jun 2026
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No Europeans on the guest list
Iran's exclusion of Europe from the 30-nation delegation list is the baseline the claimed 100-country turnout is measured against.
Occurred 30 Jun 2026
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This Event
Iran claims 100 nations, confirms two
The gap between a claimed 100 countries and two confirmed leaders is the international scorecard on Mojtaba Khamenei's contested succession.
Led to
Iran names naval chief with no decree
Iran's succession-by-action-not-instrument pattern, first noted around Khamenei's casket arrival, now extends to the IRGC Navy command.
Occurred 4 Jul 2026
Read story →
Different Perspectives
Hengaw and Iranian protest detainees
Hengaw and Iranian protest detainees
Hengaw documented three secret executions of protest-linked detainees at Isfahan and Karaj on 15 and 16 July, including Mohammad Amini Dehaghani, hanged over a January arson charge with no public trial record. Tehran is carrying out capital punishment against 2026 protesters while global attention stays fixed on the war with the US.
Russia
Russia
OFAC named Moscow aviation firm Avratek OOO and its principals Mariya Selina and Vadim Druzhbin directly for the first time in this war's Iran arms track, under an Executive Order 13382 designation issued 15 July. The designation converts years of rhetorical claims about Russian arms supply to Iran into named, sanctionable individuals and a documented company.
Bahrain
Bahrain
Bahrain sounded air-raid sirens during Iran's 14 July Gulf-wide barrage and was struck again in the 16 July Artesh claim against Sheikh Isa air base, home to the US Fifth Fleet. Manama's air-defence stocks were already reported near-exhausted before this second strike claim against the same base in a week.
Kuwait
Kuwait
Kuwait's armed forces intercepted the drones Iran's Army claimed against Ali Al Salem air base on 16 July and separately reported intercepting missiles and drones in Iran's Gulf-wide barrage on 14 July. Kuwait now absorbs strikes from two rival Iranian commands while hosting Camp Arifjan, the US logistics base Iran also claims to have destroyed.
Iran (Artesh and IRGC)
Iran (Artesh and IRGC)
Iran's regular Army claimed the 16 July drone strikes on Kuwait's Ali Al Salem and Bahrain's Sheikh Isa air bases under its own banner, Operation Saeqeh phase ten, while the IRGC separately claimed a mine strike closing Hormuz on 18 July. Two Iranian institutions are now claiming parallel operations, with neither claim confirmed by Kuwait, Bahrain or CENTCOM.
United States
United States
CENTCOM bombed the interior cities of Ahvaz and Yazd for the first time overnight into 17 July, Marines began boarding vessels including the tanker Wen Yao, and Treasury let General License X1 lapse at 12:01am the same day. Washington closed every remaining channel for de-escalation without a new executive action, a posture of attrition rather than a wind-down.