Two senior Congress leaders get invite for Ayatollah Khamenei's funeral in Iran

Iran has invited Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid for the state funeral of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a joint US-Israeli strike on the first day of the war in February. Tehran has also invited Narendra Modi for the funeral next week, but the Prime Minister is likely to skip the ceremony and send a high-level delegation.

Sources said Kharge was yet to take a decision on attending the ceremony. It is also possible that a delegation led by a senior Congress leader might be sent for the funeral, which will begin in Tehran on July 4. Ayatollah Khamenei, the longest-serving Supreme Leader of Iran, will be cremated in his home town of Mashhad on July 9.

While his burial was initially scheduled to be held in March, it was postponed in view of the war. An interim peace framework was reached between the US and Iran last month, but the situation has remained fragile.

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