Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has traveled to Uzbekistan's Samarkand on Saturday morning to attend the funeral of Uzbek President Islam Karimov who died at 78 on Friday. The top Iranian diplomat headed a high-ranking diplomatic delegation in the trip to Uzbekistan, Tasnim News Agency reported. The Uzbek authorities announced in a televised statement earlier on Friday that Karimov died in a hospital after suffering a stroke last week. Karimov became leader of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic in 1989. Two years later, he declared the independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan and assumed the presidency of the new country. In 1995, his mandate was extended for another five years by referendum. He also won reelection in 2000, 2007 and 2015. In a Friday letter to Nigmatilla Tulkinovich Yuldashev, acting president of Uzbekistan, President Hassan Rouhani offered condolences to the Karimov's family and the Uzbek government and nation.
