Iran says over 70 countries represented at Khamenei funeral

In Iran, a six-day state funeral of the former Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, began in Tehran on Saturday, drawing hundreds of thousands of mourners who gathered to pay their final respects to Iran’s late leader. Mourners offered prayers at the sight of Khamenei’s coffin alongside those of his family members also killed in the airstrike.Representatives of Tehran-backed militant groups attended the funeral ceremonies of slain Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday, with envoys from Hezbollah and Hamas meeting with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, state media reported. Tehran has for years provided support to Palestine's Hamas, Lebanon's Hezbollah and Yemen's Ansarallah, widely known as the Houthis – all designated as terrorist groups by the United States and other Western nations.
Most foreign officials and dignitaries paid their respects on Friday to Khamenei, who ruled Iran from 1989 and was killed at the age of 86 along with several members of his family and top officials in a US-Israeli strike on February 28, triggering the war in the Middle East. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post written in Arabic on X Saturday that representatives from more than 70 countries attended Ali Khamenei’s funeral, including what he called Iran’s “loyal Arab brothers.” “Iran is pleased to have received representatives from more than seventy countries who chose to participate in honoring our Supreme Leader,” Araghchi wrote. He said the commemoration would remain an “everlasting memory” in Iran’s shared relations with those countries.
India was represented by Governor of Bihar Lt. General Syed Ata Hasnain and Minister of State for External Affairs Pabitra Margherita. In a social media post, Mr Margherita said, they conveyed respect on behalf of the Government and the people of India. They also extended condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the recent conflict. Among other Foreign dignitaries included former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, senior Chinese representative He Wei, Afghanistan’s Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, and delegations from several countries.
The funeral procession will continue over the next few days before concluding with his burial in the holy city of Mashhad on 9th of this month. Public mourning will continue for 40 days thereafter. After what authorities are billing as a ⁠massive procession in central Tehran on Monday, the remains will be taken to the seminary city of Qom, the centre of Iran's Shiite hierarchy, for ceremonies on Tuesday. From there the body will be flown to Iraq for ceremonies in the two Shiite holy shrine ⁠cities of Najaf and Kerbala on Wednesday. ​The body will return to Iran on Thursday for another procession in Mashhad, to be buried near the tomb of another of the medieval Shiite imams.