Iran is preparing for the July 9 burial of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, with authorities mobilizing the Basij militia and mounting a massive security operation ahead of what is expected to be a historic turnout.

The lengthy delay to the funeral has raised questions about the preservation of Khamenei's remains, as Islamic tradition generally calls for prompt burial and discourages chemical embalming.

Counterterrorism expert Dr. Mohammed Omar told Fox News Digital that the mechanism for preservation is almost certainly refrigerated cold storage, not embalming, which is barred by Islam. He explained that Shia law allows delayed burial and preservation by cold in exceptional cases, and a clerical exemption for a Supreme Leader is easily obtainable. "Iran's forensic morgues already hold bodies for months, so four months in freezing is not exotic," Mohammed said.

Khamenei was reportedly killed by a U.S. strike on Feb. 28. "There may not be much of a body to present," Mohammed explained. "Khamenei was killed by a bunker-penetration strike, and others killed with him were recovered weeks later and identified by DNA."

Iranian authorities are portraying the funeral as both a farewell to the leader and a show of strength under the slogan "We Must Avenge." Yaqoub Soleimani, deputy for cultural and educational affairs at the Martyrs Foundation and one of the funeral's organizers, stated that the ceremony would be conducted "with full grandeur."

According to Iranian state media, 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 begins with public viewings on Saturday and Sunday in Tehran. A funeral procession is planned for July 6, with local authorities estimating that 15 million to 20 million people could attend. Another procession is scheduled for 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 observed. "They are the message. Tehran is spending everything it has to project continuity and strength because after the war both are in question."

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," he added. "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."

While senior Iraqi officials are expected to attend the funeral, representation from other major powers is anticipated to be limited. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian personally invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but India will instead send a lower-level official delegation. Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili has also confirmed his attendance.

"No major power is sending its top leader," Mohammed noted. "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."