Sharif Joins Khamenei Funeral as US-Iran Talks Wait

Pakistan's Foreign Office said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will travel to Iran from July 3-5 and attend Ali Khamenei's funeral before continuing to Turkey. Times of Israel posted at 18:44 IDT and JPost updated at 19:23 that Sharif is joining senior officials from Russia, China and India; the Foreign Office and Dawn said Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and other officials will accompany him. Pakistani and Qatari mediation now pushes the next US-Iran round until after the funeral processions. Israel should read Tehran's spectacle as regime messaging, but diplomacy that constrains Iran's nuclear and proxy network is worth testing without lowering Israeli readiness.