Peace and War Report (Week of July 6th)

Iran: As of Wednesday, the international funeral for Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei has arrived in the Holy City of Karbala, Iraq. An estimated crowd of four million are making a pilgrimage to Karbala to pay their final respects. The people are somber, sorrowful in this Shia Moslem center. As a center for Islamic education there is no sectarianism when such an assassination occurs. In fact there are red, yellow, green, Iran, and Iraq flags, as well as Palestinian scarves proudly worn. The mourners are passionate but dignified and respectful. As PressTV describes, the red flags are indicating a demand for vindication. Yellow flags may represent support for Hezbollah. Green flags support the Shia republics. And the Palestinian scarves symbolize the support for Gaza.

Huge crowds have also shown up in the past several days in Tehran, where an immense public funeral with outpourings of grief took place at the Grand Mosallah. The funeral ceremony for state delegations opened the public mourning ceremonies beginning four days ago. A period of official mourning of 40 days began after the Ayatollah and his family were martyred (assassinated) in a targeted strike by Israel. The bombing, marking the beginning of Operation Epic Fury (America) and Operation Roaring Lion (Israel), lasted 40-days. However despite a ceasefire, violent conflicts continue. In fact, FirstPost recently aired a show detailing how Mossad assassin plotters broke into the Tehran traffic camera network system and studied the license plates and identified the guards’ comings and goings in order to plan when and where a strike could take place.

Over 100 foreign state delegations were present including past presidents, state leaders, organizational leaders, including from China, Oman, Russia, Yemen, Turkiye, Lebanon, Iraq, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Egypt and many other countries with Islamic ulama (faithful religious leaders). The funeral journey and processions will culminate in a burial of the great leader in Mashhad in mountainous northeast Iran. Regardless of how early the public must rise (3am in Tehran) to get to the gates which opened at 5:30am, people would prepare to stand all day in the baking heat, according to correspondents. The authorities did provide various necessities, including outdoor sprinklers to help keep the crowds cooler.

Commentators have remarked on the detailed planning and security precautions that have taken place. For instance, there is an uninvited list that includes the United States and Israel, who worked together at the start of the unprovoked 40-day war against Iran. Prior to these latest Operations, there had been attacks last summer that also killed Iranian scientists and military leaders. The Operations have included targeted strikes against schools, hospitals, mosques, heritage sites, private homes of top politicians and Shia authorities, and harming numerous innocent civilians. The desire for regime change by the US-Israel entities are enormous, although often, as with President Trump on Truth Social, laced with contradictory utterances, such as desire for peace intermingled with the rhetoric of destruction.

News coverage by foreign TV has been extensive and sympathetic towards the late Iran Supreme Leader. For instance, TMJ News Network reports that “Pedare Umat” TV show interviewed his former medical physician, Dr. Alireza Marandi, and Marandi revealed how the Leader lived, which was he led a simple, austere lifestyle both for himself and his immediate family:

“The late Iranian Supreme leader did not prioritize his family’s comfort over others. According to Marandi, during difficult periods, including the war, the household would purchase small amounts of food daily, and meals often consisted of simple items such as bread, yogurt, eggplant without meat, or leftover food from previous days. He added that even offerings from Eid al Adha were largely returned, with only a small portion kept after the sender insisted.” — Dr. Alizera Marandi, personal physician of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Marandi believes that “Ayatollah Khamenei’s lifestyle draws inspiration from the Shiite first Imam Ali bin Abu Talib. According to historical texts, Imam Ali lived on stale bread and water, reflecting a choice to live modestly and to remain close to the conditions of the poor around him, so that those under his leadership would not feel marginalized or forgotten.”

Indeed it was Ayatollah Khamenei’s willingness to stand up for the oppressed people of Gaza, Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, and his desire to bring justice and truth for the ummah, even those who did not share his faith, that led to his martyrdom. Today, as the estimated thirty million people showing up for the outdoor funeral processions and ceremonies indicate, “a martyred Khamenei is more of a threat to the West than a living Khamenei.”

Even if all that remains in the coffins for himself, his wife, his son, his daughter-in-law, and his grand-daughter are burnt remnants and fragments, the people have become a living movement, a monument even grander than Tehran’s Azadi Square, that will never die. This is evidence of unity in spite of the sectarianism and civil unrest that the Deep State continually tries to sow. In fact, Iran foreign ministers must continue to daily warn against the machinations from Israel. They have uncovered their plot to conduct new assassination strikes, for instance, and heedless of any ceasefire agreements signed, they are daily continuing to bomb south Lebanon, and engender starvation and death in Gaza.

Palestine: Recently Middle East Eye shared a community post indicating that Gaza’s famous Kamil Adwan Hospital administrator and pediatrician, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, has been transferred to Nitzan Prison, Israel. Typical of the pattern, the IPS uses a “final prison” with maximal methods of torture to issue the “death blow.” Dr. Safiya told the world, “This is the last time you will see me…They brought me here to kill me. I don’t see myself surviving. This is the end.” According to Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI), Dr. Abu Safiya was brought to a prison meeting in hand and leg restraints and accompanied by masked guards. The organization said his lawyer observed fresh injuries to his head, face, ears and neck, appeared severely weakened, and repeatedly seemed close to losing consciousness.

Dr. Safiya has been imprisoned without charge or trial since December 2024 when he made the fateful mistake of agreeing to meet with the IDF officers. Recently, for having the courage to appeal his detention in court, he was placed in solitary confinement. Prison guards have repeatedly beat him, even using hammer or batons, and caused him to suffer immensely. This same prison offers “prison tours” where Israeli citizens can take pictures of detainees bound and lying face down on the ground.

The nation of Iran is teaching the world that they can stand up as a sovereign state, they can have their own internal banking system, they can develop without imperial interference, and can cope with the harsh unrelenting sanctions placed upon their people. They are telling the world that they can and must resist the end goal of colonialist enslavement and Zionist regime change used as an excuse to conduct all kinds of genocide.

The entire nation of Iran invites the world to watch the funeral ceremonies of their late beloved Supreme Leader, and indeed it is a life-changing force for the young people, a unifying experience for the ummah, with much to appreciate in hearing the marvelous calls from the Quran.

Resources

PressTV.ir, Live, including “Millions Join Martyed Leader Funeral in Show of Unity” screen photos

TMJ News Network, Community Posts, Youtube.com, July 3, 2026

Middle East Eye, Community Posts, Youtube.com, July 6, 2026

AJ+ (Al Jazeera News), Community Posts, Youtube.com, July 6, 2026

Times of Israel, “Congregants from prison chief’s synagogue taken on tour to see Hamas prisoners,” 23 Feb 2026

Firstpost, “How Israel’s Mossad hacked Tehran’s traffic cameras to track Ayatollah Khamenei,” 03 Mar 2026

Image Capture from PressTV.ir, July 7, 2026
Article by C. Kroll, AGN Editor