Dozens of foreign dignitaries on Friday paid respects to Iran's former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, where his coffin was put on display for the first time since his death.
Friday marked the beginning of a week of funeral ceremonies for Mr Khamenei, who was killed during the US and Israel's opening wave of strikes on Iran in February.
Delegations from the Middle East and beyond arrived in the Iranian capital to pay their respects to Mr Khamenei, led by heads of state, prime ministers, parliamentary speakers and ministers.
Among the attendees were Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, accompanied by Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and the country’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi. Pakistan emerged as a vital mediator during the war, working with Washington and Tehran to broker a ceasefire.
Other foreign dignitaries seen at the funeral in Tehran included Iraq's President Nizar Amedi. Lebanon was represented by its Defence Minister Michel Menassa, Saudi Arabia was represented by its deputy minister of foreign affairs and Egypt and Qatar's delegations were led by their Speakers of Parliament.
Representatives of Iran's allied armed groups – Hezbollah, the Houthis and Hamas – were all there. Russia and China were also represented by senior officials at the ceremony.
Mr Khamenei's remains rest at Tehran's Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla, where his coffin lay on a platform next to those of relatives including his granddaughter.
Members of Iran's senior leadership, including President Masoud Pezeshkian and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, were also at the mosque on Friday amid tight security. The absence of the new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, from his father’s funeral was notable but expected. He has not been seen publicly since becoming the country’s leader.
Mr Khamenei's coffin will lie in state at the mosque on Saturday and Sunday, state media reported. A funeral procession is scheduled in the capital on Monday, followed by a procession in the religiously significant city of Qom a day later. There will be stops in Iraq before Mr Khamenei's body returns to Iran to be buried in Mashhad.
Organisers are expecting a vast outpouring of public grief over Mr Khamenei, who held office for 37 years. The ceremonies could rival the chaotic funeral for Iran's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989.
Mr Khamenei's body was moved overnight, amid warnings by Iranian officials against any attempts to bomb the country during the funeral. Maj Gen Ali Abdollahi, commander of Iran's Khatam Al Anbiya Central Headquarters, said any “miscalculation” would be met with a “harsh and regretful” response.
Friday's initial gathering included families of members of the armed forces and the office of the supreme leader, state news agency Irna reported. Images released by Iranian media showed mourners dressed in black, weeping and chanting religious slogans as the coffin was brought to the venue.
Iman Attarzadeh, a spokesman for the funeral headquarters established after Mr Khamenei's death, said the ceremony was the first opportunity for selected families of those killed in the conflict to pay their respects. It remained largely limited to invited mourners rather than the wider public, although state TV broadcast footage from the event.
After the Tehran and Qom ceremonies, Mr Khamenei's body will arrive on July 7 at the airport in the Iraqi city of Najaf, where an official funeral will take place. Another funeral for mourners will be held on Wednesday in the city, followed by ceremonies in Karbala. The final rites will take place on July 9 in Mashhad, north-eastern Iran, where he is expected to be buried.
The organising committee said an “unparalleled display of public participation” was expected for the funeral.
Tehran's deputy mayor for social and cultural affairs, Mohammad Amin Tavakolizadeh, said this month that the procession in Tehran was expected to last at least 24 hours, with preparations under way to host up to 20 million people. Iran's population is about 90 million.
Mourners from Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Bangladesh are expected to join the ceremonies in Mashhad. Mr Tavakolizadeh said local authorities along the procession route should prepare for a large crowd.
The funeral is to be by far the largest pro-government event since a deadly crackdown was launched on protests in January. At least 7,000 people were killed, human rights monitors outside Iran have said. Some reports put the death toll many times higher.
Israeli leaders and intelligence officials reportedly told US President Donald Trump at the time that the violent suppression of dissent left the Iranian regime in a weak position and particularly vulnerable to a popular uprising, if combined with US and Israeli intervention.
But with the regional war now over and negotiations taking place on concessions that would benefit the Tehran regime, some analysts believe it is in a stronger position than before the conflict began.
The funeral will be a major indication of whether the regime's legitimacy has increased in the country since the conflict, as it sells the population a narrative of resisting US and Israeli pressure on the battlefield.
But many Iranians disillusioned with the country's system of government are likely to stay away from the funeral. Some said they celebrated the death of Mr Khamenei, but felt hopelessness when he was quickly replaced by his son, rather than his death causing the regime to collapse.
