TEHRAN – High-ranking Iranian and foreign officials on Friday paid their respects to Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a ceremony in Tehran.

The tribute ceremony began in the morning at Imam Khomeini's Mosalla prayer hall in central Tehran and continued throughout the day.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council Sadeq Amoli Larijani, and other senior officials attended the ceremony.

Foreign guests included heads of state, parliament speakers, and ministers from a number of countries. Among them were Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili, Iraqi President Nizar Amedi, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, President of Iraq's Kurdistan Region Nechirvan Barzani, as well as senior officials from China and Russia.

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Religious figures, scholars, and tribal leaders also attended the ceremony.

Funeral ceremonies will continue through July 9, with processions in Tehran, Qom, and Mashhad, as well as rites in Iraq. Iranian authorities have announced public closures and airspace restrictions in Tehran and Mashhad on key dates, with Thursday declared a day of national mourning.

Ali Khamenei was killed in a US and Israeli strike in Tehran on Feb 28. His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was selected as Iran's new supreme leader in March.