TEHRAN, July 3– Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Thursday officials from more than 100 countries will attend the funeral ceremonies of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In an interview with state-run IRIB TV, Baghaei said the foreign guests would include heads of state, parliament speakers, foreign ministers, governments’ special envoys as well as a large number of personalities and popular groups. Baghaei said the late leader’s farewell and funeral ceremonies are considered a “historic and very important” event for Iranian people. He noted that the tribute and farewell ceremonies will begin in the capital Tehran on Friday morning with the participation of personalities and popular groups, and will continue in the afternoon with the presence of high-ranking foreign officials and political figures.
In remarks on Tuesday, Ali Akbar Pourjamshidian, Iran’s deputy interior minister and head of the funeral organizing headquarters, said following Friday’s ceremony, farewell ceremonies will be held at Imam Khomeini’s Mosalla prayer hall in Tehran on Saturday and Sunday, and a funeral procession is scheduled for Monday, expected to draw large crowds from Iran and other regional states. On July 7, he added, there will be a ceremony in Iran’s central city of Qom, and on July 8, the leader’s body will be transferred to Iraq for further rites. He will be laid to rest in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad on July 9, according to Pourjamshidian. Iranian authorities have announced public closures in Tehran from Saturday to Tuesday for the holding of the ceremonies. The Iranian administration has also declared Thursday a day of national mourning.
Ali Khamenei was killed in a U.S. and Israeli strike in Tehran on Feb. 28. His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was selected as Iran’s new supreme leader in March.
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