Iran has announced it will hold funeral processions for slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei next month, as international mediators dangled the prospects of an end to Middle East conflict.
Iran's state-run news television, IRIB, reported Saturday that funeral processions, burial and farewell ceremony for Khamenei has been scheduled to be held between July 4 and July 9
Khamenei was killed in the initial wave of strikes unleashed by the Israel and the United States on February 28, plunging the Middle East into a conflict that has stretched on to more than 100 days.
Iran has replaced Khamenei with his son Mojtaba, who is even less compromising, according to an AP report.
Pakistan, which initiated talks between the US and Iran after the Middle East conflict began, has said a deal aimed at a closure to the protracted war is in sight.
"We are closer to a peace deal than ever before. With finalisation likely expected in the next 24 hours, Pakistan is preparing for the electronic signing of the peace deal immediately after, followed by technical level talks next week," Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a post on X.
Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi also said in a post that "The Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding has never been closer. Pending its finalization, the media should refrain from entering speculation about its content."
The AP report cited three regional officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as saying they expect a signing ceremony for the agreement in the coming days after Washington and Tehran give the final consent.
There have been confusing statements also from both sides about a possible pact. "Commitments made must be commitments kept. No ifs, no buts, no excuses. For the close deal ahead, there is no other way," Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's parliamentary speaker wrote on X. "You reap what you sow," Ghalibaf, who is also Iran's chief negotiator, posted in a cryptic message.
A senior US official had also told reporter that a deal was "not quite at the finish line yet, but we are very close".
US President Donald Trump also hinted at significant progress on Friday, just hours after threatening to escalate the conflict and seize Iran's oil industry.
Trump later rejected Iran's account of a deal with the US, saying it has "NOTHING to do with the terms that were agreed to, in writing."
Trump had claimed many times in the recent weeks that the US and Iran have been on the cusp of a deal, though substantial progress has remained elusive.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office had said it is not a party to the emerging agreement between the US and Iran.
The war triggered by the US-Israel strikes on Feb. 28 that killed Khamenei has virtually shut down oil and natural gas shipments from the Persian Gulf though a shaky ceasefire has been in place since April 7.
