Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani arrived in Tehran on Friday on an official visit to attend the funeral of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, following an invitation from Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
In a statement, the Kurdistan Region Presidency said Barzani travelled to Iran at Pezeshkian’s invitation and will take part in the official funeral ceremonies for Khamenei. The visit will also include meetings with several senior Iranian officials.
Barzani was welcomed upon his arrival by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Khamenei was killed on February 28 during the opening day of a joint US-Israeli air campaign against Iran, which also claimed the lives of several senior Iranian political and military figures.
Funeral arrangements had been postponed several times amid the six-week conflict and subsequent military tensions between Iran and the United States in regional waters.
The bodies of Khamenei and other officials killed in the attack were transferred to a major mosque in Tehran on Friday ahead of the funeral ceremonies. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has called for a large public turnout.
Official ceremonies are scheduled to begin over the weekend, with Khamenei’s body lying in state at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla before a mass funeral procession in the capital on Monday.
Further religious ceremonies are planned in the holy city of Qom before the body is taken to the Iraqi shrine cities of Karbala and Najaf. Khamenei is expected to be buried in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad on July 9.
Iraqi Parliament Speaker Haibet Al-Halbousi also arrived in Tehran on Friday to participate in the funeral ceremonies.
