According to German publication Die Welt, a confidential document addressed to Iran’s first vice president and obtained by journalists predicts that between 1,500 and 3,000 people could die during Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s funeral ceremony.
Based on the publication’s information, Iranian authorities have established a special operational task force to address the risk of potential mass casualties. Meanwhile, Behesht-e Zahra, the country’s largest cemetery located near Tehran, has been prepared with thousands of new burial plots.
According to one of Tehran’s city administration officials, the additional burial plots prepared at the cemetery do indeed exist. The source stated that responsible officials have been informed about the possibility of up to 3,000 deaths.
«When such a large number of people gather and the weather is extremely hot, no one can say for certain what will happen.»
The article recalls that in 2020, during the funeral of Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, a stampede resulted in 56 deaths according to official reports, with hundreds injured. The funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, also resulted in casualties and injuries.
Die Welt writes that Iranian authorities are taking precautionary measures this time, anticipating the possibility of a larger-scale humanitarian disaster.