Shafaq News-Najaf
Funeralprocessions for Iran's late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, began inthe Iraqi city of Najaf on Wednesday morning, drawing senior Iraqi officialsand citizens amid high security and organizational measures.
The IraqiPrime Minister Ali al-Zaidi received on Tuesday evening the bodies of Khameneiand members of his family at Najaf International Airport. Iranian PresidentMasoud Pezeshkian, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, FM Abbass Araghchi,Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani, andsenior Iranian officials had also arrived to take part in the ceremonies.
A wide rangeof Iraqi political, religious, tribal, and community figures also attended thereception ceremony, including leaders of the Iran-aligned CoordinationFramework, the largely parliamentary bloc that governs Iraq.
Sayyid MuhammadTaqi al-Hakim, an instructor at the religious seminary in Najaf, is scheduledto lead the funeral prayer in the city. Sheikh Abdul Mahdial-Karbalai, the representative of the top Shia religious authority AyatollahAli al-Sistani, is to lead the prayer at the shrine of Imam Hussein bin Aliafter the body reaches Karbala.
