ndonesia has sent its ambassador as a representative attending the funeral of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed at the start of the United States-Israeli war on Iran
Indonesian ambassador to Iran Rolliansyah “Roy” Soemirat paid his respects to Khamenei on Friday at the Grand Mosalla, a religious complex in the Iranian capital where his body was lying in state
“The Iranian government has expressed their appreciation for Indonesia’s decision to appoint its ambassador in Tehran to represent the country [in the funeral],” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Yvonne Mewengkang said on Saturday
The large-scale, days-long funeral processions for Khamenei, who was killed in a US-Israeli strike on Feb. 28, began on Friday and will conclude with his burial in his hometown of Mashhad on July 9
Representatives from about three dozen countries were in Tehran on Friday to pay their respects to Khamenei, but Western leaders were reportedly absent
Among the international guests was Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose country has been mediating between Iran and the US, and former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev who attended on behalf of President Vladimir Putin, AFP reported
Jakarta’s decision, meanwhile, was criticized by former Indonesian ambassador to the US Dino Patti Djalal, who argued that sending only an ambassador to Khamenei’s funeral could compromise Indonesia’s longstanding free and active foreign policy
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