PM Shehbaz, CDF Munir participate in Iran's assassinated supreme leader Khamenei's last rites

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir on Friday participated in the last rites of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated in a US-Israeli strike on February 28. Khamenei’s body arrived at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla on Friday ahead of his funeral. Apart from PM Shehbaz and CDF Munir, other foreign dignitaries, clerics, officials and mourners also paid their respects as the body lay in state in a vast hall. Photos showed mourners carrying Khamenei’s coffin, emblazoned with Iran’s tricolour flag, into the Grand Mosalla, one of the Islamic republic’s most important ceremonial venues. Others show crowds at a pre-funeral ceremony clad in black, as the coffin was set down against a backdrop of red flowers and white butterflies hanging in the air. Ahmad Vahidi, head of the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of the military, made his first appearance since the start of the war in February, paying his respects at the coffin, Iranian media footage showed. He will lie in state for three days at the colossal Grand Mosalla, which has been draped in banners featuring images and quotes of Khamenei. Millions of people and a coterie of foreign dignitaries are expected to attend Saturday’s official ceremony for Khamenei. Representatives from around 30 countries are expected to attend the funeral, with people pouring in from neighbouring Iraq and Afghanistan. The bodies of his slain relatives will also be present. Multi-city commemorations The funeral ceremonies for the supreme leader will pass through a series of locations — from the seat of power in Tehran to the holy cities of Qom, Karbala, Najaf and finally Mashhad — that reflect the religious, political and ideological pillars of the Islamic republic. His funeral, initially delayed at the height of the Middle East war, is taking place as Iran and the US uphold a fragile ceasefire after signing the Islamabad Memorandum of Understandi