People have streamed into the streets of the Iranian capital Tehran to pay their final respects to the former Iranian presidentand chairman of the Expediency Council.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has performed the funeral prayers at Tehran University.
President Hassan Rouhani, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani and Judiciary Chief SadeqAmoliLarijani are also attending the funeral procession.
Among participants are President Hassan Rouhani, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani,Judiciary Chief Sadeq Amoli Larijani, government ministers, lawmakers, military top brass, members of the Expediency Council and the Assembly of Experts as well as a number of foreign ambassadors and dignitaries.
The body of the venerated cleric will be laid to rest at the mausoleum of the late Founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini, with a large crowds of mourners in attendance.
Thousands of mourners have gathered at the shrine of Imam Khomeini ahead of the burial ceremony.
Ayatollah Rafsanjani became Iran’s first Speaker of Parliament after the Revolution, serving until 1989.Then Rafsanjani was elected president, in which position he functioned until 1997.
The senior cleric was also the chairman of the Expediency Council, a position he kept until his departure.
Ayatollah Rasfanjani played an influential role both during the anti-Shah struggles before the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and afterwards through various stages of the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
He was among the main aides to the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini.