BAGHDAD, July 7 (Xinhua) — The body of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei arrived in the Iraqi city of Najaf on Tuesday evening ahead of funeral processions scheduled for Wednesday.
A special aircraft carrying the body landed at Najaf International Airport, accompanied by family members and senior Iranian officials, an airport source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian were among those receiving the body, according to a statement by al-Zaidi’s media office and a report by the official Iraqi News Agency.
Earlier, al-Zaidi and Pezeshkian held a meeting in Najaf on bilateral ties and regional stability, according to a separate statement by al-Zaidi’s media office.
Funeral ceremonies will begin Wednesday at 6:00 a.m. local time (0300 GMT) in Najaf, and then move to neighboring Karbala at 4:00 p.m. local time, said Saad Maan, spokesperson for the Supreme Committee for Funeral Ceremonies. Funeral ceremonies for Khamenei have been held from Friday to Tuesday in Iran’s capital Tehran and its central city of Qom.
He will be laid to rest in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad on Thursday, which the Iranian government has declared a day of national mourning.
