US Senator Rick Scott slams Pakistan's Iran ties after Shehbaz Sharif attends Khamenei funeral: 'We’re watching closely'

US Senator Rick Scott on Tuesday criticised Pakistan's role in efforts to support peace between the United States and Iran, accusing Islamabad of sending contradictory signals after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif attended the funeral of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran.

Scott's comments followed Sharif's appearance at the funeral ceremony, where the Pakistani premier paid tribute to Khamenei.

In a social media post on X, Scott wrote:“We need to remember who Pakistan really is in the middle of all this. We’re talking about a country where bin Laden hid out for a decade, where they selectively enforce lopsided blasphemy laws to persecute Christians, and where the Prime Minister just praised the genocidal mass murdering tyrant that used to run Iran. They’re no better qualified to “mediate” this than the Hamas-harboring Qataris.”

“Islamabad should take note; we’re watching closely,” Scott added.

In a video shared by the senator, Sharif described the Iranian leader as "a great scholar and leader whom millions of Muslims will remember" and said that "Pakistan and Iran will march together under all circumstances".

Iranians bid farewell to Khamenei in holy city of Qom

Thousands of mourners filled the streets of Iran's holy city of Qom on Tuesday as the funeral ceremonies for late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei entered their fourth consecutive day.

Khamenei, who was killed in late February on the opening day of the conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran, is lying in state at the Jamkaran Mosque in Qom, one of the most significant centres of Shia Islam and home to some of the religion's leading seminaries and shrines.

State television aired aerial footage showing densely packed crowds across the city of around 1.5 million residents, with thousands gathering to pay their final respects to the late leader.

A special prayer ceremony was led inside the mosque by 93-year-old Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi-Amoli, one of Iran's most influential conservative Shia clerics. During the service, mourners repeatedly chanted "death to America," a slogan commonly heard at official events in the Islamic Republic.

Television coverage also showed grieving crowds, including clerics in traditional turbans, offering prayers beside the coffins of Khamenei and four family members who were killed alongside him. Among them was a granddaughter reported to have been just 14 months old.

Following the prayers, a funeral procession moved through Qom, with a truck carrying the coffins towards the mausoleum of Fatima Masumeh, sister of Imam Reza—the eighth Shia imam and a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed.

The ceremonies followed Monday's massive funeral procession in Tehran, where authorities sought to project national unity and resilience in the aftermath of the recent war, as well as the widespread anti-government protests that shook the country six months earlier.

Crowds in the Iranian capital were comparable in scale to those seen during the 1989 funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic and Khamenei's predecessor.

Despite the large public gatherings, there has so far been no public appearance by Khamenei's son and designated successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has remained out of public view since assuming the leadership role in early March.