Over 100 countries to attend Khamenei's funeral, world leaders to pay respects

Representatives from more than 100 countries will attend the final farewell of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's state media has reported .

The formal mourning ceremony began on Friday, July 3, with his body placed at the Imam Khomeini Mosque Complex in Tehran, known as the Grand Mosalla. Friday has been designated for foreign delegates and guests to pay their respects, with the coffin to be opened to the public in Tehran from Saturday .

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who played a key role in mediating the US-Iran ceasefire, will attend along with Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon, Armenia Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Georgia President Mikheil Kavelashvili, and Iraqi President Nazar Amidi . Turkmenistan's National Leader Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow will also attend.

Turkey is sending Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz . Russia will be represented by former president and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, now Deputy Chairman of the Security Council, as President Vladimir Putin's special envoy . China is sending senior parliamentarian He Wei, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

India is sending Deputy Foreign Minister Pabitra Margherita and Bihar Governor Syed Ata Hasnain, a Shia Muslim who is the highest-ranking Shia figure in India. Opposition leader and former foreign minister Salman Khurshid and Mehbooba Mufti are also in the Indian delegation .

Afghanistan is sending Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and First Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Abdul Ghani Baradar . Azerbaijan will be represented by Parliament Speaker Sahiba Gafarova, Kazakhstan by Foreign Minister Yermek Kosherbayev, and Cuba by Higher Education Minister Walter Baluja García .

Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed will lead the official delegation of Bangladesh in the funeral.

Iranian officials have confirmed that representatives from more than 30 countries, along with religious leaders from over 90 countries, are expected at the funeral . The multi-day funeral is expected to draw between 15 and 20 million mourners in what officials say will be the largest funeral in the country's history .

Source: Al Jazeera, Times Now