Each country decided for itself at what level to participate in the farewell ceremony for Iran's Supreme Leader, the late Ali Khamenei. At a press conference on July 8, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Iran to Armenia, Khalil Shirgolami, made this statement in response to a question from a NEWS.am correspondent as to why, unlike the Prime Minister of Armenia, the presidents of Azerbaijan and Türkiye did not travel to Tehran to attend the ceremony in person.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sent Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz to represent Türkiye in Tehran, while Azerbaijan was represented not by President Ilham Aliyev but only by the Speaker of the Milli Majlis, Sahiba Gafarova.

"As an Iranian citizen, I can say that we expected [Azerbaijani president Ilham] Aliyev and [Turkish president Recep Tayyip] Erdogan to personally participate in this event. Turkey and Azerbaijan sent their delegations, however, this fact will be recorded in historical memory," the Iranian diplomat noted, reiterating that this is the domestic political decision of these countries.

Shirgholami explained that Turkey announced that this event took place very close to the date of the NATO summit in Ankara, and that country's president was busy preparing for it, so he was unable to attend Khamenei's farewell ceremony.