Spokesman: Iran to attend President Karimov’s funeral at top level

“We are in constant contact with the Iranian embassy in Tashkent to take part in funeral of late president of Uzbekistan at the highest possible level,” Qassemi said.

“Given the historical and cultural relations between the Iranian and Uzbek nations a message of condolence by Iran’s president addressed to the Uzbek nation and government was sent to condole the demise of the late Uzbek president,” he added.

President Karimov died at the age of 78 after suffering a stroke.

His rule saw the country emerge from the collapsing Soviet Union to become an independent nation.

Karimov was born in 1938 in Samarkand, one of Central Asia's oldest inhabited cities and a key stopping point along the Silk Road.

He studied engineering and economics at university.

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