PMF deploys service vehicles to Najaf, Karbala ahead of Khamenei funeral

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces sent service and engineering vehicles to Najaf and Karbala on Saturday to help with logistical preparations for the funeral ceremonies in Iraq for Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, set for July 7 and 8, as authorities prepare for large numbers of mourners from inside and outside the country.

The PMF said the vehicles, from its Service and Engineering Directorate, were deployed on its leadership’s orders to help the local governments of Najaf and Karbala carry out the funeral plan.

Saad Maan, spokesperson for the higher committee overseeing the arrangements, said a three-layer security cordon would be set up around the shrines in Najaf and Karbala, with the land routes from airports to the two cities secured. Security would be divided among the army, police and the PMF to manage the flow of crowds. Traffic will stay normal across Iraq and no curfew will be imposed, the Security Media Cell said Friday, with restrictions limited to the procession routes.

The preparations follow Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s visit to Baghdad to coordinate arrangements, and trips by senior Iraqi officials to Tehran for memorial events ahead of the procession through Najaf and Karbala. Khamenei was killed on Feb. 28 in a U.S.-Israeli airstrike that targeted senior Iranian leaders in Tehran at the start of the 2026 war.