3 min readNew DelhiMar 6, 2026 05:30 AM IST
The air inside the Iranian Embassy on Barakhamba Road in New Delhi is still, and the silence is broken only by the soft scratching of pen on paper.
On a long table draped in black cloth is a line of glass vases, with clusters of white roses in each. Beyond the long table is a screen of black cloth; in front, there is a line of chairs upholstered in black.
On the screen are pictures of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, watching over the table and the open book placed on it. The book is for visitors to mourn the late Supreme Leader of Iran and Iranian Shi’ism.
Among those who came to pay their respects on Thursday was Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri who signed the Condolence Book on behalf of the Government of India.
There were many others, ordinary citizens, for whom the assassination of the Ayatollah marked the end of an era of resistance.
“The martyrdom of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is extremely painful for humanity. The oppressors should know that if we were among those who could be erased, we would have perished in Karbala itself,” 22-year-old Katib Raza wrote in the book.
The Battle of Karbala (680 CE), was a pivotal moment in the history and theology of Shi’ism, marked by the martyrdom of Hussain, son of Imam Ali, the fourth Rashidun caliph.
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“I wrote what I was feeling… I am deeply saddened,” Raza, a teacher from Sankhni village in Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh, told The Indian Express.
“It (the Ayatollah’s death) is a loss for the Muslim ummah across the globe,” Taslim Ahmed Rehmani, president of the think tank Muslim Political Council of India, wrote in the Condolence Book.
“We have always been a part of anti-fascist movements in the country and across the world. We also feel a deep connection with the Iranian Revolution. I was in Class 12 when the revolution took place,” Rehmani (63), said.
Rehmani, a former doctor who runs the think tank from his office in Jangpura, recalled India’s historically close cultural and social relations with Iran. “This (the Ayatollah’s assassination) is an insult to Iran. I condemn it,” he said.
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Mohammed Rizvi (29), who works with the travel booking company Sky Travel, which is affiliated with the Iranian Embassy, said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would continue to guide his followers.
“A rahbar (leader) never truly dies. His vision and courage continue to guide us forever,” Rizvi wrote in the book.
“He was our religious leader. He was very important to us… We will get guidance from him. A lot of people in our religion followed him. He had extensive knowledge of the Holy Quran… America used propaganda to defame him. He was a spiritual leader,” he said.
Iran has declared 40 days of public mourning and seven days of public holiday as a mark of respect for its Supreme Leader.
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