Tehran is preparing for the July 9 burial of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, more than four months after his death, as authorities mobilize the Basij militia and mount a massive security operation ahead of what is expected to be a «historic» turnout.

The lengthy delay to the funeral has raised questions about how Khamenei’s remains have been preserved, as Islamic tradition, anaylsts say, generally calls for prompt burial and discourages chemical embalming.

«The mechanism is almost certainly refrigerated cold storage, not embalming, as Islam bars chemical embalming,» counterterrorism expert Dr. Mohammed Omar told Fox News Digital.

MOJTABA KHAMENEI USING ‘BIN LADEN TEMPLATE’ TO SURVIVE, LEARNED FROM ABBOTTABAD: ANALYST

«Shia law allows delayed burial and preservation by cold in exceptional cases, and a clerical exemption for a Supreme Leader is easy to get,» he added.

«Iran’s forensic morgues already hold bodies for months, so four months in freezing is not exotic. That is what ‘religious and legal standards’ cover,» Mohammed said.

Operation Epic Fury began on Feb. 28 with a targeted U.S. strike that killed Khamenei at his compound in Tehran. He had ruled the Islamic Republic for 36 years.

«There may not be much of a body to present. Khamenei was killed by a bunker-penetration strike, and others killed with him were recovered weeks later and identified by DNA,» Mohammed explained.

«A regime holding an intact body does not cancel the farewell, shift the burial site repeatedly, and confirm that he can be buried only days out.

«It reads less like reverence and more like remains they could preserve but not display,» he said.

WAVE OF ATTACKS ON IRAN’S IRGC RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT RENEWED KURDISH INSURGENCY

In this picture obtained from Iran’s ISNA news agency, Mojtaba Khamenei (C), son of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, walks along a street in Tehran on May 31, 2019. (Hamid FOROUTAN / ISNA / AFP via Getty Images)

With that, Iranian authorities are portraying the funeral as both a farewell to the leader and a show of strength under the slogan «We Must Avenge.»

According to Iranian state media, Yaqoub Soleimani, deputy for cultural and educational affairs at the Martyrs Foundation and one of the funeral’s organizers, said Wednesday the ceremony would be conducted «with full grandeur.»

Soleimani said a turnout of 1 million people would make the event «a historical occasion» and «a national epic in the memory of the Islamic Republic of Iran.»

The schedule starts with public viewings Saturday and Sunday in Tehran. A funeral procession is scheduled for July 6, where local authorities estimate 15 million to 20 million people could attend.

Another procession is planned the following day in Qom, one of Shiite Islam’s holiest cities.

«The numbers the regime is putting out — up to 20 million mourners in Tehran, 35 million nationwide, more than 90 countries represented, 14,000 journalists credentialed — are not logistics,» Mohammed, of the George Washington Program on Extremism, said.

«They are the message. Tehran is spending everything it has to project continuity and strength because after the war both are in question.»

IRAN’S UNPRECEDENTED ‘WHOLE-REGIME’ DELEGATION AT US DEAL TALKS SIGNALS ONE GOAL: EXPERT

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) military personnel are walking along Enghelab (Revolution) Avenue as an Iranian Kheibar Surface-to-Surface missile is being unveiled during the Ela Beit Al-Moghaddas (Al-Aqsa Mosque) military rally in Tehran, Iran, on November 24, 2023. The IRGC is unveiling two new missiles during the rally. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

According to Iran International, Tehran is also preparing a massive security operation for the funeral.

«The Basij and the IRGC running this is the story, not a detail,» Mohammed said.

«The Basij is coordinating logistics — highways turned into parking, each Tehran district assigned a province, five public holidays declared — and the Guard has crowd control.

«This is a mobilization dressed as a funeral. The same apparatus organizing the grief this week is the apparatus that put down the January protests and denied funerals to the families of the people it killed then. American readers should hold those two facts next to each other,» he added.

While senior Iraqi officials will attend the funeral, representation from other major powers will be limited.

Although Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian personally invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India will instead send a lower-level official delegation.

Reports on June 30 also confirmed that Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili will attend the ceremony.

«No major power is sending its top leader,» Mohammed said.

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«For a regime that claims to lead a front stretching from Beirut to Sanaa, a regional turnout at its founder-successor’s funeral is the isolation showing through the pageantry.

«For Washington, it is a useful readout: the war left Tehran’s axis smaller and more regional than the regime advertises,» he added.

El presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, protagonizó este miércoles una llamativa escena durante una visita a la Biblioteca Presidencial Theodore Roosevelt, en Dakota del Norte.

Frente a un avatar impulsado por inteligencia artificial que recrea al exmandatario estadounidense, Trump mantuvo una conversación sobre el Canal de Panamá, una de las obras de infraestructura más importantes del siglo XX.

En un video difundido en redes sociales, Trump se acerca a la representación virtual de Roosevelt y le hace una pregunta directa: “¿Considera que el Canal de Panamá es su mayor logro?”

La respuesta del avatar, desarrollado con tecnología de Microsoft y la empresa LemonSlice AI, fue extensa y reivindicó tanto la construcción del canal como otras políticas impulsadas durante la presidencia de Roosevelt.

“Bueno… sí, en cierto sentido. El Canal de Panamá es, sin duda, uno de los logros de los que me siento más orgulloso. Pero la grandeza es algo curioso. No siempre se trata del proyecto más grande o del más visible», respondió la inteligencia artificial.

Luego agregó: “El Canal de Panamá demostró de lo que Estados Unidos era capaz cuando decidía actuar con rapidez y determinación. Sin embargo, si hablo de mi legado, pienso también en las reformas que mejoraron la vida de la gente. Protegimos nuestros recursos naturales, impulsamos la salud pública, combatimos enfermedades y procuramos que los beneficios del progreso alcanzaran a todos, y no solo a unos pocos».

El discurso concluyó con una referencia al impacto histórico de la obra: “Recuerdo sentarme a observar el Canal y ver pasar aquellos enormes barcos. Saber que estaban conectando océanos y cambiando para siempre el mapa del comercio mundial me hacía sentir que había contribuido a construir una obra que perduraría durante generaciones».

Tras escuchar la respuesta, Trump asintió y contestó: «Sí, realmente lo hizo“, antes de retirarse del lugar.

La conversación no fue casual. Durante el mismo acto, el presidente volvió a defender el papel de Estados Unidos en la construcción del Canal de Panamá y aprovechó para insistir con uno de los argumentos que viene repitiendo desde el inicio de su segundo mandato: el supuesto avance de China sobre esa infraestructura estratégica.

«China está intentando tomar el control del Canal de Panamá, y no vamos a permitir que eso ocurra“, aseguró durante su discurso ante los presentes.

Además, definió al canal como «la obra más cara que hemos construido jamás, pero también la más rentable» y cuestionó a las administraciones estadounidenses que impulsaron la transferencia del control de la vía interoceánica a Panamá.

Trump ya había anticipado esa postura durante su discurso de asunción, en enero de 2025, cuando afirmó que buscaría recuperar la influencia de Washington sobre el paso marítimo al considerar que Panamá cobra tarifas excesivas y que existe un creciente riesgo de influencia china en la región.

Leé también: Trump dejó de lado sus amenazas a Cuba y aseguró que el gobierno de Díaz-Canel “se está acercando” a EE.UU.

El Canal de Panamá fue inaugurado el 15 de agosto de 1914, durante la presidencia de Woodrow Wilson. Sin embargo, su desarrollo quedó estrechamente ligado a Theodore Roosevelt, quien impulsó el proyecto desde el inicio. En 1903, Estados Unidos apoyó la independencia de Panamá de Colombia y, poco después, obtuvo los derechos para construir y administrar el canal.

Durante más de ocho décadas, Washington controló la vía y el territorio circundante. Recién tras los tratados firmados en 1977 entre ambos países comenzó un período de administración conjunta que culminó en diciembre de 1999, cuando el canal pasó definitivamente a manos panameñas.

Hoy, el paso interoceánico continúa siendo una pieza clave para el comercio global. Cada año lo atraviesan cerca de 14.000 embarcaciones y por allí circula alrededor del 2,5% del comercio marítimo mundial. La ruta resulta fundamental para el transporte de mercancías entre Asia y la costa este de Estados Unidos, además de las exportaciones estadounidenses de productos agrícolas y gas natural licuado.

A coalition of blue states and jurisdictions is suing the Trump administration over new Medicaid work requirements designed to prevent fraud, arguing the policy unlawfully restricts access to health care coverage.

The lawsuit, filed by at least 25 states and the District of Columbia, alleges the newly implemented Interim Final Rule (IFR) — issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) — violates federal law and departs from Congress’ original intent and early CMS guidance. 

The IFR requires certain individuals to provide documentation proving they are exempt from Medicaid rules requiring enrollees to work, volunteer or attend school due to severe medical conditions. 

Before the rule was issued in early June, highly vulnerable Medicaid recipients were set to be automatically exempt from such requirements. Agencies would have granted those exemptions by reviewing existing health records, without requiring individuals to complete additional paperwork ahead of the requirements taking effect in January 2027.

DR. OZ UNVEILS MEDICAID OVERHAUL, CLAMPS DOWN ON $2B FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AND MANDATES WORK FOR ABLE-BODIED

The lawsuit names Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which issued the IFR, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), as defendants.

Oz previously argued that such guardrails are designed to prevent programs from being «defrauded into a turmoil,» adding that able-bodied enrollees receiving American tax dollars should contribute to society. 

«If you can work, you should get up and work,» Oz said. 

«If we put guardrails around these programs, we’ll allow them to thrive. I’m here because I love Medicaid. The president has already said he loves and cherishes Medicaid and Medicare. … We cannot allow these programs to be defrauded into a turmoil that they cannot pull up from. If we love these programs, we will make the difficult decisions.»

The new rule would require able-bodied individuals to work 20 hours a week, volunteer, or pursue education while enrolled in free healthcare coverage.

Fox News reached out to the White House and HHS for comment. 

FED AUDIT, EMERGENCY MEDICAID UNDERCUT DEMS ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT HEALTH COVERAGE

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during an interview. ((Photo by Jason Mendez/Getty Images))

The plaintiffs involve California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin and Kentucky. 

«People with disabilities, patients in the middle of cancer treatment, or those struggling with another serious or complex health condition, shouldn’t be at risk of losing the care that helps maintain their health,» the suit stated. 

REPUBLICANS PRAISE ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’S’ WORK REQUIREMENT FOR MEDICAID: ‘WE’VE GOT TO GET BACK TO WORK’

According to the suit, CMS’s own projections estimate that 2.3 million enrollees will lose Medicaid coverage in the first year alone. 

The agency also estimates that 7% of enrollees who are working or qualify for an exemption will lose coverage due to confusing paperwork requirements, strict deadlines or missing documentation, according to the document. 

Beginning in 2028, enrollees who do not have immediate medical records on file would be limited to a single opportunity to submit a «self-attestation» form declaring, under penalty of perjury, that they are too sick to work.

Under previous guidance, enrollees were allowed to use self-attestation multiple times as their medical needs evolved.

An examination bed sits inside a medical clinic. (AP Photo/Matt York)

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In addition, plaintiffs said the new rules would force states to abandon automated systems they have already invested in and instead build more complex and costly manual review processes. 

As the Aug. 31 deadline to mail notices to Medicaid enrollees approaches, the plaintiffs are seeking a temporary stay and a preliminary injunction to block CMS and HHS from enforcing the rules.