▲ Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir visit the funeral site of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, Iran, on July 3.
Leaders from Iran's allied nations arrived in Tehran on July 3 (local time) to pay their respects, one day before the official funeral of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an airstrike by the United States and Israel.
According to foreign media outlets including AFP, Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia and a close aide to President Vladimir Putin, arrived in Tehran leading a Russian delegation. He visited the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla, the prayer hall where Khamenei’s coffin is lying in state, to offer his condolences.
TASS news agency reported that Medvedev shook hands and held a brief conversation with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who welcomed him, and also exchanged greetings with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and other officials.
Delegations from Pakistan and Afghanistan, countries that have recently experienced strained relations with Iran due to armed conflicts, also visited the funeral site.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif paid his respects alongside Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir.
Pakistan had previously played a mediating role in the ceasefire negotiations between Iran and the United States.
Representing Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi of the Taliban administration led the delegation.
Prior to his visit, Ahmad Massoud, who leads the anti-Taliban front within Afghanistan, also visited the funeral site to pay his respects.
AFP reported that Massoud’s father, Ahmad Shah Massoud, had received support from Iran in the 1990s.
Saudi Arabia, which saw its oil refineries attacked by Iranian drones during the war between the U.S.-Israel coalition and Iran, sent Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed El-Khereiji to lead its delegation.
Delegations from the Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Lebanese pro-Iranian militant group Hezbollah also arrived in Tehran on the same day.
China has dispatched He Wei, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, as its representative. It is expected that delegations from approximately 30 countries will attend Khamenei's funeral.
(Photo courtesy of the Prime Minister's Office of Pakistan, Yonhap News)
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