3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jun 25, 2026 02:05 PM IST
As Iran prepares for a multi-city state funeral for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a US-Israeli air strike on Tehran on February 28, President Masoud Pezeshkian has sent a formal invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the funeral next month.
Sources said the formal invitation, on behalf of Pezeshkian, was sent to the Ministry of External Affairs Tuesday by the Iranian Embassy in New Delhi. They said the embassy received the formal note from Tehran two days ago.
Khamenei’s funeral proceedings will begin in Tehran on July 4, and he will be laid to rest in his home town of Mashhad on July 9. The burial was initially scheduled for March but postponed in view of the conflict raging then.
There is no official word yet on who will be representing India at the funeral. Sources said a multi-nation visit by the Prime Minister is planned around the same dates.
In 2024, after Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian were killed in a helicopter crash, then Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar travelled to Tehran and represented India.
Modi is among the world leaders who have received formal invitations on behalf of Pezeshkian – leaders of China, Russia, Qatar, France and Pakistan too have been sent invitations. Last Friday, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced that a Pakistani delegation would be attending the funeral.
The invitation from Iran, days after it signed an MoU with the US to end hostilities, is a reminder of the civilizational and strategic ties between Tehran and Delhi amid the shifting dynamics in West Asia.
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During the conflict, India and Iran kept bilateral channels open despite Delhi deciding not to take sides. Iran’s Foreign Minister Syed Abbas Araghchi visited India in May for the BRICS meeting.
Ghadir Nezamipour, Deputy Secretary for Defence Affairs in Iran’s powerful Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), who was in New Delhi to attend the meeting of NSAs from BRICS countries, met Prime Minister Modi Tuesday evening.
On Wednesday, Mohsen Paknejad, Iran’s Petroleum Minister, reached New Delhi for a meeting of BRICS energy ministers. He will also hold bilateral discussions with Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri – following the signing of the MoU, the US has waived sanctions on Iranian oil imports for 60 days.
At the height of the Iran conflict, India had concerns about the security of the Indian diaspora in Iran and the Gulf region, its energy security and attacks on commercial vessels carrying Indian seafarers.
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Other than energy security, a priority area for India is the development of the Chabahar Port, its strategic gateway to Central Asia and Afghanistan, bypassing Pakistan. In the changing West Asia, Delhi will want to maintain its policy of strategic autonomy by engaging both Tehran and its adversaries in the region.
