Talks on hold until after funeral for Ali Khamenei

Mediators have confirmed that diplomatic talks to resolve the Middle East standoff will be postponed until after Iran's six-day mourning period for its late supreme leader, though Tehran has issued fresh warnings to the United States and called on regional states to draw lessons from the war.

On Friday morning, the coffin of Ali Khamenei, who led Iran for over 36 years, arrived at Tehran's Grand Mosalla complex. Religious figures, state officials and foreign dignitaries walked past his casket, as well as others of his slain family, state media reported.

Beginning on Saturday, Iran will hold a multiday funeral for Khamenei, with Tehran bracing for up to 20 million mourners. Khamenei's body will be taken to the Iraqi holy cities of Najaf and Karbala before his burial on Thursday at the shrine of Imam Reza in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad, his birthplace.

Khamenei, along with his daughter, granddaughter, son-in-law and daughter-in-law, was killed in the opening salvo of US-Israeli airstrikes on Feb 28. It remains unconfirmed whether his son and successor Mojtaba — who has stayed out of public sight since taking office as supreme leader — will attend the main funeral service.

Security arrangements will be stringent, with temporary airspace restrictions enforced across Tehran and other major cities. Iran has also vowed a heavy-handed military response should the US or Israel launch further strikes, local media reported.

"We are showing our power to America and others in our own way," said Hossein Kheiri, 63, a veteran of the 1980-88 war with Iraq, standing under a poster of Khamenei in Tehran.

Preparations for Khamenei's public funeral, initially delayed at the height of the war, are taking place as Iran and the US abide by a fragile ceasefire after signing a preliminary deal to halt the conflict.

Pakistan and Qatar, the primary intermediaries between Washington and Tehran, said the next round of indirect talks will be held in the third week of July.

Positive response

"Pakistani and Qatari mediators are in constant touch with both sides to resume the direct talks to settle all pending issues," Pakistani sources told Anadolu Agency on Thursday. Washington has signaled readiness for the dialogue, while Tehran has also delivered a positive response, the sources added.

Separately, Iran's joint military command warned on Thursday that all oil tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz must use its approved routes, or face a "forceful response".

The strategic strait, the Gulf's narrow maritime choke point, stands as a core negotiating item in talks to hammer out a permanent Iran conflict settlement. The statement, carried by Iranian state TV, came one day after both US and Iranian diplomats met with mediators on Wednesday in Qatar.

While the immediate trigger for Tehran's warning remained unverified, the rhetoric closely followed a US Central Command statement regarding a recent meeting in Bahrain, where representatives from 12 nations "underscored their shared commitment to the free flow of commerce through" the strait.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baghaei, dismissed the US-led meeting as "nothing more than performative posturing", saying "peace in our region can only be sustained" without "outside interference".

Contact the writers at cuihaipei@chinadaily.com.cn