ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani arrived in Tehran on Friday, responding to an invitation by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, where he is set to meet with Iranian officials and participate in the funeral ceremony of Iran's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei (1939 - 2026).
President Barzani "has arrived in Tehran at the official invitation of President Masoud Pezeshkian of the Islamic Republic of Iran," the Kurdistan Region Presidency said in a statement, adding that the Kurdish leader is set "to attend the official funeral of Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the late Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran."
The statement added that during the visit, President Barzani is set to meet "with several senior officials and leaders from Iran."
Upon his arrival, President Barzani was received by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Khamenei was killed on February 28, on the first day of the joint US-Israeli aerial campaign launched against Iran, which also killed several of the country's top leaders and commanders.
While several previous dates for his funeral were set in previous weeks, the six-week Iran war and the ensuing intermittent tit-for-tat military escalations and maritime measures by Washington and Tehran in regional waters appear to have hindered it.
The bodies of Khamenei and several others killed alongside him were transferred to a mega mosque in the Iranian capital on Friday.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian Thursday urged a large turnout.
The funeral ceremony is set to begin Saturday and Sunday, with the body lying in state at Tehran's Grand Mosalla before a mass funeral procession Monday in the Iranian capital.
Further rites are scheduled in Iran's shrine city of Qom, with Khamenei's body expected to be transferred to Iraq's southern holy cities of Karbala and Najaf.
The late supreme leader’s final burial is set to take place in the shrine city of Mashhad in northern Iran on July 9.
Of note, Iraqi Parliament Speaker Haibet al-Halbousi also arrived in Tehran on Friday to participate in the funeral procession as well.
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