New Delhi, 02 July (H.S.):

Former External Affairs Minister and senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid will represent the Congress party at the funeral ceremonies of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khurshid said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge would not be able to attend the ceremonies personally and had therefore officially nominated him to represent the party.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Salman Khurshid, who heads the Congress party’s Department of External Affairs, said he would leave for Tehran on a special flight scheduled to depart at 4 p.m. the same day. He said he would make every effort to participate in all the funeral-related ceremonies. Iranian authorities have already been informed that he will attend the events on behalf of the Congress president and the Congress party.

Khurshid said that invitations had been extended to a large number of dignitaries for the funeral ceremonies, but seating capacity and the size of official delegations were limited. Consequently, it remains unclear who else will ultimately be part of the delegation.

Notably, Iran has invited leaders of various political parties in India, including the presidents of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, to attend the funeral ceremonies. Representing the Government of India, Minister of State for External Affairs Pabitra Margherita and the Governor of Bihar, Lieutenant General (Retd.) Syed Ata Hasnain, will also participate in the events in Tehran.

According to Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA, the funeral ceremonies are scheduled to take place from July 5 to July 9. Memorial services will be held at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla Prayer Hall in Tehran, while funeral processions will be conducted in Tehran and Qom. The ceremonies will conclude on July 9 in Mashhad, where Ayatollah Khamenei will be laid to rest within the Imam Reza Shrine complex.

Ayatollah Khamenei was 86 years old and had served as Iran’s Supreme Leader for nearly 36 years. According to the information provided, he died during the United States-Israel attacks in February.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar