More than 20 million people to take to streets for Iranian Ayatollah's funeral... on July 4

More than 20 million people are to take to the streets of Tehran for the Iranian Ayatollah's funeral on July 4.

The funeral of Ali Khamenei, Iran's former supreme leader, is due to take place this weekend.

He was killed by an Israeli air strike on his home on February 28, the opening day of the US-Israeli operation against Iran, called Epic Fury.

The 86-year-old was killed alongside several other family members.

The state-organised funeral can commence now a peace agreement has been struck between Iran and the US.

Iranian authorities have urged the public to attend the ceremony en masse, with police predicting up to 17 million taking to the streets in Tehran to pay their respects to the late Ayatollah.

The city's mayor, Alireza Zakani, had an even more ambitious figure of 20 million mourners.

It will begin on Saturday, July 4, which is also Independence Day in the US.

Mourners attending a memorial vigil after Iranian state media confirmed the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on March 1 in Tehran

This Independence Day marks the 250th anniversary of the start of the United States of America, where the 13 colonies of the nation broke away from British rule.

It is estimated 72 million Americans will be travelling on Saturday in aid of the celebrations.

On the same day in Iran, it is estimated 18 to 35 million people will attend events across the major cities of the Islamic Republic, as well as the Iraqi shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala.

Officials have announced next Thursday will be a national day of mourning.

The world will be watching to see if Mojtaba Khamenei, the reclusive cleric chosen to succeed his father as supreme leader of the Islamic Republic, makes a public appearance

In the Iranian capital, the ceremonies will begin at the Mosalla prayer grounds, where the public will be ale to observe the body of Khamenei over two days.

The next morning, a funeral prayer is due to be held.

The procession will move to Qom in Iraq and ending up in Mashhad, back in Iran, where the Ayatollah is to be buried at the shrine of Imam Reza.

More than 900 foreign journalists have been registered to attend the ceremony, with guests expected from around 100 countries.

For Mojtaba Khamenei, the reclusive cleric chosen to succeed his father as supreme leader of the Islamic Republic, the funeral represents a critical public test.

He has not appeared in public since taking power, so the occasion offers an opportunity to consolidate his authority and potentially show his face for the first time since succeeding to power.

The funeral prayer will be closely watched to see if the new supreme leader goes out into the open.

Meanwhile, fierce internal feuding within Iran's leadership continues after the peace deal with agreed with the US on June 17.

Chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf this week told hardliners: "You who help neither in diplomacy nor in war, stop causing trouble."

The political atmosphere has been further unsettled by one MP's warning of a possible coup.

Kamran Ghazanfari alleged officials were quietly paying eulogists and preachers to abandon nightly street gatherings and letters had been sent to the Basij militia ordering it to withdraw support.

He described the moves as "a semi-political coup against the leader of the system", accusing the camp of President Masoud Pezeshkian of inflating the role of the supreme national security council.