Iraqi Officials Feature Prominently at Raisi’s Memorial Service in Iran

A photo released by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's office shows him seated with Iranian and Iraqi officials at the memorial service.
A photo released by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's office shows him seated with Iranian and Iraqi officials at the memorial service.
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Iraqi Officials Feature Prominently at Raisi’s Memorial Service in Iran

A photo released by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's office shows him seated with Iranian and Iraqi officials at the memorial service.
A photo released by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's office shows him seated with Iranian and Iraqi officials at the memorial service.

Tehran held on Saturday a memorial service for late President Ebrahim Raisi and other officials who died in a helicopter crash last Sunday.

Iraqi officials featured prominently at the event as shown in photos released by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s office.

Khamenei was seen seated among Iraqi religious clerics and politicians. Other foreign officials were not seated among them but elsewhere at the service.

Seated in the same row as Khamenei were head of Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council Judge Faiq Zidan and major Iranian officials.

Iraq had said Zidan was traveling to Tehran to offer his condolences. President Abdul Latif Rashid had also headed to Iran with former Prime Ministers Adel Abdul Mehdi and Haidar al-Abadi and leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Bafel Talabani.

Talabani enjoys strong ties with Iraq’s pro-Iran Coordination Framework and Iran itself.

Other Iraqi officials at the service were head of the Popular Mobilization Forces Faleh al-Fayyad, head of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq Qais al-Khazali, leader of the Hikma movement Ammar al-Hakim, and Kurdish politician Adham Barzani, known for his controversial stances,

Barzani has stirred controversy for backing Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s traditional rival.



Zelenskiy Presents New Joint Forces Commander to Ukraine Troops

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy listens to Ukrainian service members during his visit to a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the city of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine June 26, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy listens to Ukrainian service members during his visit to a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the city of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine June 26, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
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Zelenskiy Presents New Joint Forces Commander to Ukraine Troops

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy listens to Ukrainian service members during his visit to a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the city of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine June 26, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy listens to Ukrainian service members during his visit to a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the city of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine June 26, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy presented the new joint forces commander on Wednesday to troops defending the eastern frontline region of Donetsk.

Zelenskiy announced on Monday he was appointing Brigadier-General Andriy Hnatov to the post, which involves strategic planning of operations, replacing Lieutenant-General Yuri Sodol who had faced criticism over serious military setbacks.

Hnatov's main tasks include "preserving as many fighters' lives as possible" while repelling the invading Russian forces, Zelenskiy said in a video address posted on social media.

One of his meetings during the trip addressed security and support for the people of the Donetsk region, including water provision, social issues and evacuation, Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app.

Zelenskiy recorded the video address against the backdrop of a city sign of Pokrovsk, along part of the front that has seen some of the most intense fighting during Russia's 28-month-long full-scale invasion.

In the video, he expressed surprise that some relevant government officials had not visited the region in six months or more.

"There will be a separate conversation in Kyiv, particularly with officials who must be here and in other areas near the frontline – in difficult communities where people need immediate solutions," Zelenskiy said. "Solutions that simply cannot be seen from Kyiv."

Zelenskiy and his army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi also listened to reports from frontline positions.

Ukraine's military has found itself on the back foot this spring as Russian forces opened a new front in the northeastern region of Kharkiv in May and continued to press Ukrainian forces in other directions.