The body of the late Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated in a joint US-Israeli attack, has been brought to a farewell ceremony in the capital, Tehran, according to Iran's state news agency, IRNA, with international delegates set to participate in the ceremony.
The ceremony early on Friday was attended by thousands of family members of those killed in US-Israeli war on Iran, who gathered to mourn near the site of the commemoration.
Khamenei was assassinated in a joint US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28, an event that triggered weeks of war and heightened tensions across Middle East.
According to the announced funeral schedule, an official memorial ceremony for Khamenei will be held on Friday, July 3, with the participation of heads of state, senior officials and religious leaders.
Leaders, senior officials or representatives from more than 30 countries, including Russia, China, Pakistan, India, Tajikistan, Georgia and Cuba will attend the ceremony, Iranian media reported.
'Another referendum'
Farewell ceremonies will continue in Tehran on July 4 and July 5, followed by the main funeral procession in the capital on July 6.
The funeral rites will then move to the holy city of Qom on July 7.
On July 8, ceremonies are scheduled in Iraq, including in Baghdad, Najaf and Karbala, where the body will be received by religious and political figures and taken to major Shia shrines.
The final funeral and burial ceremony is scheduled for July 9 at Imam Ali Reza shrine in the northeastern city of Mashhad, one of the holiest Shia sites.
"The large public turnout at the funeral procession of the martyred leader and the other martyrs will, in effect, be another referendum for the Islamic Republic," Qom Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Mohammad Saidi declared to state media.
Khamenei's assassination, and the succession of his son Mojtaba as Iran's third supreme leader, in a war with its greatest foes, mark an epochal moment in the last 47 years in Iran.
Mojtaba, dangerously wounded in the US-Israeli strike that killed his father, has not been seen in any new image since the war began.
Meanwhile, Iran and the US concluded a round of indirect talks in Doha, mediators said on Thursday, as they kept up efforts to advance negotiations and lower tensions following recent exchanges of fire.
In June, Washington and Tehran agreed a memorandum of understanding, brokered by Pakistan and Qatar, which included a 60-day ceasefire pausing the war that broke out with US-Israeli attacks in late February, as well as the reopening of the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.
The 14-point deal also set a timeline for talks to permanently end the war and settle issues like arrangements for Hormuz, reconstruction funding for Iran and the future of Tehran’s nuclear programme.
