Iranian officials 'afraid to bury' assassinated Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei after death

Reports are suggesting that Iranian officials are 'afraid to bury' the slain Supreme Leader months after his death. Ali Khamenei, 86, was assassinated in a j oint US-Israeli airstrike on February 28 that launched the Iran war with the US - with his son The remains of the cleric still unburied , breaking with established tradition, the New York Post reports . Now, one security expert claims the delay is due to Tehran being too chicken to carry out the process. The last state funeral for his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in 1989 saw millions of Iranians flooding the streets of Tehran in mourning — but similar displays for Khamenei were largely absent during weeks of airstrikes across Iran that took many of the regime’s top leaders. According to reports, a ceremony would risk of potential Israeli airstrikes, nationalist counter-rallies similar to the nationwide uprisings earlier this year, and the regime’s need to explain the absence of Mojtaba Khamenei, Khamenei’s son and the new supreme leader who has not been seen in public since his appointment. “It speaks volumes that the turnout for the funeral of the regime’s founding father in 1989 was such a massive affair, and yet one generation later his successor is still not able to have a funeral well over a month after his passing,” Taleblu continued. “The Islamic Republic likes to talk a big game about owning the streets, but a 50-day internet blackout tells you all you need to know. The regime fears the consequences of the truth getting out.” Now, Iranian officials are considering the remote, northeastern city of Mashhad as a potential burial site, according to state media Fars, The Australian reported . Mashhad, which sits the border of Turkmenistan and far removed from Israel , is Khamenei’s hometown and serves both practical and symbolic purposes. One of the ideas floated would see Khamenei buried near the shrine which has a heavy security presence that would allow protection of the longtime leader’s grave, according to reports. The Islamic Republic initially planned a three-day state funeral beginning on March 4, but it never materialized once the country was rocked by large-scale Israeli and US bombing campaigns, according to state news agency Irna. There are no dates set for Khamenei’s burial ceremony. The US and Iran signed a temporary truce on April 8, which is set to expire on Wednesday.