TBILISI, July 3, 2026. Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili attended the funeral ceremony of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Friday, a visit that quickly turned into another flashpoint in Georgia’s tense foreign policy debate.
Kavelashvili wrote on social media that he attended the ceremony together with leaders from the region and other countries. During the visit, he also met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
The Georgian president said he again expressed condolences over what he called the tragic events in Iran and paid tribute to the memory of those who had died. He said Georgia supports efforts aimed at peace, stability and de-escalation in the region.
Kavelashvili also said relations between Georgia and Iran are based on respect and consideration of national interests. He thanked Pezeshkian for Iran’s support for Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
According to the Georgian presidential administration, the two presidents discussed good-neighborly relations, bilateral cooperation, and the importance of peace and stability in the region.
Iranian media reported that Kavelashvili was met at Tehran airport by Iranian officials. Rezonansi reported that other officials expected at the funeral included Turkmenistan’s President Serdar Berdimuhamedow, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon, Iraq’s President Nezar Amidi, and Uzbekistan parliament speaker Nuriddin Ismoilov.
In Tbilisi, the visit drew sharp criticism from the opposition, which argued that it clashes with the Georgian government’s stated wish to “reset” relations with the United States.
Lelo leader Grigol Gegelia said it was a major contradiction for Georgia’s president to travel to Tehran for condolences while the prime minister speaks about repairing ties with Washington.
Republican U.S. Congressman Joe Wilson also criticized the visit. He wrote that some of America’s “worst haters” were gathering for Khamenei’s funeral, and accused Kavelashvili of deepening what he called an anti-American pact between Iran and Georgian Dream.
Georgian Dream rejected the criticism, with ruling party MP Tengiz Sharmanashvili saying that Georgia has gone to offer condolences to neighbors before and would continue to do so. He argued that such a step could not damage relations with the United States.
Nika Chitadze, a professor at the International Black Sea University, told Rezonansi that Kavelashvili’s visit would complicate the attempt to reset relations with Washington. He said Georgian delegations had now appeared at funeral events in Iran more than once, and that such actions add up.
Chitadze said Washington may still want to improve relations with Georgia if certain conditions are met, but he argued that the Tehran visit would likely be noted by U.S. officials. He also said Georgia’s problems with Washington are linked not only to Iran, but also to domestic laws and pressure on political opponents.
Analyst Edisher Gvenetadze took the opposite view. He said attending a funeral was a matter of neighborly culture and could not reasonably be treated as an anti-American act. He asked why critics were not also focusing on representatives from Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey attending, noting that Turkey is a NATO member.
