World Leaders Pay Final Respects to Khamenei in Tehran

Tehran (ANTARA) - A number of world leaders and official delegations from various regions continue to arrive in Tehran on Friday (3/7) to pay their final respects to the former Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, as the official series of funeral processions begins in the Iranian capital.

Iranian state television broadcast live the arrival of foreign leaders and delegations at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla Complex in Tehran, which serves as the venue for the large-scale state and religious ceremonies. At the site, guests expressed their condolences and paid their respects before Khamenei’s remains.

Khamenei passed away during a joint attack by the United States and Israel on Iran on 28 February. The event triggered a war that lasted nearly three weeks and heightened tensions in the Middle East region before a ceasefire was eventually reached through a US-Iran memorandum of understanding, mediated by several regional nations.

Among the foreign figures attending the ceremony were the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, who arrived as a special envoy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, to participate in the tribute ceremony. Also present were Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz, Iraqi President Nizar Amidi, Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistani Senate Chairman Yousaf Raza Gillani, and Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir.

From Arab nations, attendees included the Chairman of the Shura Council of Qatar, Hassan bin Abdullah Al-Ghanim; Saudi Arabian Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed Elkhereiji; Chairman of the State Council of Oman, Abdulmalik bin Abdullah Al Khalili; and Vice President of Yemen, Aidarus al-Zulbaidi. Delegations from Central Asia were also present, including the National Leader of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow; Uzbekistan Parliament Speaker Nuriddin Ismoilov; Kazakh Foreign Minister Yermek Kosherbayev; Kyrgyzstan Parliament Speaker Marlyn Mamataliyev; and the Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Nurlan Yermekbayev.

Other high-ranking officials paying their respects included the President of Georgia, Mikheil Kavelashvili; the Speaker of the Lower House of Belarus, Igor Sergeyenko; the Speaker of the Egyptian Senate, Abdel Wahab Abdel Razek; and the Deputy Prime Minister of Afghanistan, Abdul Ghani Baradar. Additionally, the Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Burkinabe Foreign Minister Karamoko Jean Marie Traore, and the Congolese Foreign Minister Jean-Claude Gakosso were in attendance.

Further dignitaries included the Namibian Minister for Presidential Affairs, Charles Mubita; the Nicaraguan Foreign Minister, Valdrack Jaentschke; the Serbian Minister of Information and Telecommunications, Boris Bratina; and a Chinese delegation led by He Wei, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. Iranian media also reported the presence of Myanmar’s special envoy Tin Aung San, the Secretary-General of the D-8, Seyed Soheil Mahmood, a representative of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Ahmed Khokher, a Bangladeshi delegation led by Parliament Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad, and an Indian delegation led by the Governor of Bihar, Ata Hasnain.

The former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti, also attended the procession alongside a Shia Muslim group from Thailand and a political delegation from Bulgaria. The Malaysian delegation was led by special envoy Datuk Seri Haji Mohamad bin Sabu, who also paid his respects to Khamenei.

Representatives from various regional groups were also present, including Ziyad al-Nakhalah, several high-ranking Hezbollah officials, representatives from Yemen, Palestinian clerics, Lebanese political factions, and other allied groups. On the same day, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan arrived in Tehran to pay his respects, further lengthening the list of arriving foreign delegations.

Separately, Hezbollah held a tribute ceremony in Lebanon to commemorate Khamenei. Similar activities were reported to be taking_place in Iraq and several other regional capitals.

A spokesperson for the Iranian funeral committee stated that the official schedule for the funeral processions remains subject to change. Although the main public tribute ceremony is scheduled to begin on Saturday morning, authorities have left open the possibility of opening access to the Imam Khomeini Mosalla on Friday night if conditions permit.

According to the official schedule, the series of tribute ceremonies will take place in Tehran from Friday through the weekend, attended by heads of state, high-ranking officials, and religious figures. Public tribute ceremonies are scheduled for 4 and 5 July, followed by the main funeral procession in Tehran on 6 July. The funeral proceedings will then continue to the city of Qom on 7 July. On 8 July, ceremonies are scheduled to take place in Iraq, including in Baghdad, Najaf, and Karbala, where the remains will be received by religious and political figures before being transported to several Shia holy sites. The final funeral procession is scheduled for 9 July at the Imam Reza Shrine Complex in the city of Mashhad, in northeastern Iran, which is one of the holiest sites for Shia Muslims.