Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will take part in the funeral of Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov in Samarkand, IRNA reported.

An Iranian delegation is accompanying Zarif, the report said Sep. 3.

Earlier, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi announced that Iran will participate in the funeral procession ceremony of Karimov at the highest diplomatic 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,” 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.