India's Prime Minister Modi Invited to Attend State Funeral of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has formally invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the state funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei next month, an Indian Express report said, citing sources. According to the report, the formal invitation was sent to the Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday by the Iranian Embassy in New Delhi on behalf of President Pezeshkian. The Embassy is learnt to have received the formal note from Tehran two days ago. Khamenei, 86, was killed in a joint US-Israeli air strike on his compound on February 28, in an aerial strike by the US and Israel. While the burial of Iran’s former supreme leader was initially expected in March, the funeral was later postponed as the conflict dragged on. The funeral ceremonies are scheduled to begin in Tehran on July 4. Khamenei will be buried in his hometown of Mashhad on July 9. It is not immediately clear who will represent India at the funeral. After the death of Iran’s then President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May 2024, India had declared a day of national mourning and sent then Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar to Tehran to lead the Indian delegation. As per the reported schedule, Khamenei’s body will lie in state at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla complex before public processions in Tehran and Qom. Ceremonies are also expected in Iraq’s holy cities of Najaf and Karbala before the burial at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad. The invitation comes amid continued diplomatic engagement between New Delhi and Tehran. India sees Iran as part of its extended neighbourhood and the two countries have long-standing civilisational, energy and connectivity ties. During the recent West Asia conflict, Prime Minister Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held multiple rounds of engagement with Iranian counterparts. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also visited New Delhi to attend a BRICS meeting and held talks with Jaishankar. He also met PM Modi during the visit. The outreach also comes at a time when energy ties between India and Iran have returned to focus, though cautiously. India had stopped importing Iranian crude in 2019 after US sanctions were reimposed on Tehran. However, after a temporary US sanctions waiver earlier this year, Reliance Industries bought 5 million barrels of Iranian crude from the National Iranian Oil Company, marking India’s first reported purchase of Iranian crude since 2019. A fresh 60-day US waiver on Iranian oil sales has again opened a window for Tehran to reach out to Asian buyers, including India which may lead to more shipments of Iranian oil coming into India. India’s energy exposure to Iran has also been visible in LPG shipments. According to ship-tracking data cited by Reuters, India imported 145,000 tonnes of LPG from Iran in May. The figures underline that while crude purchases remain sensitive to sanctions risk, energy trade with Iran has not disappeared from India’s West Asia calculus. For India, any decision on representation will be closely watched, given its balancing act in West Asia, where it has strategic ties with Iran, Israel, the Gulf countries and the United States. New Delhi has avoided taking a public position that could lock it into either side of the Iran-Israel confrontation. During the conflict, PM Modi spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and urged an early cessation of hostilities, while also engaging with Pezeshkian and stressing the need to keep shipping lanes open and secure. This approach reflects India’s wider West Asia strategy: preserving its strategic and defence partnership with Israel, maintaining civilisational and connectivity ties with Iran, protecting energy interests in the Gulf. India’s immediate concerns have been practical as much as diplomatic energy supplies, fertiliser availability, maritime safety and the security of Indian seafarers. In recent days, 11 India-bound vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz after the US-Iran MoU, signalling some easing of pressure on a route critical to India’s trade and energy security.