admin Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will attend the funeral of the late Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei this week, the South Asian nation’s foreign ministry said on Thursday.
“The Prime Minister, Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, will go to Iran and Turkey from 3-5 July… he will go to Iran first for (the) supreme leader’s funeral,” ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi told reporters.
Pakistan has been mediating between the United States and Iran to end the regional war which began in February with US-Israeli strikes that killed the 86-year-old Iranian supreme leader in Tehran.
Andrabi reiterated earlier statements from Pakistan and fellow mediator Qatar that US-Iranian indirect talks in Doha this week had made progress and another meeting could take place after Khamenei’s funeral.
The public funeral will begin on Saturday, with his body lying in state at the colossal complex in central Tehran that hosts major Friday prayers, official ceremonies and religious gatherings.
Pakistan shares deep historic ties with Iran. The two share a 900-kilometre (560-mile) border and cultural links, with Sunni-majority Pakistan home to the world’s second-largest Shia population after Iran.
Sharif’s trip to Turkey would involve meetings with Turkish leadership and businesspeople, Andrabi said.
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