Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will undertake an official visit to Iran and Turkiye from Friday, travelling to Tehran to participate in the funeral ceremony of late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

He will be accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and other cabinet ministers and senior officials.

The prime minister will convey condolences on behalf of the people and government of Pakistan to the Iranian leadership and the bereaved families, reaffirming solidarity with the brotherly nation in its hour of grief.

Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi confirmed the visit during a weekly briefing in Islamabad, saying the prime minister would depart for Iran on Friday to attend Khamenei’s funeral prayers before proceeding to Turkiye.

PM Shehbaz had announced the Tehran visit last month during a joint address with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Islamabad, saying he would hold meetings with the Iranian leadership and express solidarity with the Iranian people.

Iran has said senior government and political representatives from around 100 countries are expected to attend the funeral, with farewell ceremonies and processions continuing over several days amid extraordinary security arrangements.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said heads of state, parliamentary leaders, foreign ministers and special government representatives from multiple countries would take part.

He said farewell ceremonies would begin in Tehran at 8 a.m. on Friday, July 3, with foreign delegations and senior political figures joining condolence events the same day, calling the occasion significant not only for the Iranian people but for the region, the Muslim world and other nations.

Iranian officials said delegations from Russia, China, Pakistan, India, Turkey, Iraq, Qatar, Oman, Egypt, Lebanon, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Georgia, Cuba, Serbia, Tunisia, Congo, Ghana, Namibia, Myanmar, Thailand, Gambia and Nicaragua are expected to attend.

According to the state news agency IRNA, the funeral proceedings will continue for several days. Farewell ceremonies will be held at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Mosalla on July 4 and 5, followed by the main funeral procession in the capital on July 6.

Further processions are scheduled in Qom on July 7 and in Mashhad on July 9, where Khamenei will be buried at the shrine of Imam Reza.

Iranian officials estimate that between 15 and 20 million people are expected to attend the ceremonies from inside and outside the country, prompting an exceptional scale-up of security and traffic arrangements.

Khamenei was martyred on February 28 in US and Israeli strikes on the first day of their war against Iran, along with several family members.

Senior Iranian military commanders and advisers were also killed in the strikes, including Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani and Major General Mohammad Pakpour.

Following the funeral, PM Shehbaz will travel to Istanbul at the invitation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, where he will hold talks covering the full range of bilateral relations, with a focus on trade and investment cooperation, as well as regional peace and security.

During his stay, he will also address a Pakistan-hosted business conference in Istanbul, highlighting investment opportunities in special economic zones, energy, trade, IT and privatisation, bringing together Turkish businessmen, investors and senior officials from both countries.

The visits to Iran and Turkiye reflect Pakistan’s longstanding historical, cultural and fraternal ties with both nations.