The helicopter crash that killed Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi came almost two years after Japan’s former prime minister Abe Shinzō was gunned down on the election campaign trail in Nara. Though hardly comparable in life, in death the two leaders shared a diplomatic ritual that is commonly overlooked by analysts – the impromptu summit diplomacy held during their state funerals.
Funerals of major political leaders garner sizeable guest lists with notable numbers of foreign delegations: Winston Churchill (1965), Josip Tito (1980), and Nelson Mandela (2013) are just a few historical examples. Similarly, funerals of monarchs continue to command significant global audiences. The commemoration for Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 was reported to have included representatives from 168 countries, one of the largest gatherings of world leaders in recent memory.
Although the purpose for the state funeral is primarily an institutional commemoration for the public and international community to gather and pay respect, those held for notable former or sitting leaders can become a political opportunity. This notion of the “working funeral” has been covered in detail by Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the University of Leicester, Geoff R. Berridge: “Because death is always with us … there is little doubt that the working funeral is now the most important ceremonial occasion in the world diplomatic system”.
It was commonly known that Abe continued to wield influence in Japan within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and over incumbent prime minister Fumio Kishida despite having stepped down from leadership two years earlier. Buoyed by a sweeping LDP victory in the election days after Abe’s death, Kishida took the opportunity to announce a state funeral honouring Abe’s political legacy.
With 700 foreign dignitaries from 218 countries, regions, and international organisations set to attend, the opportunity for Kishida to partake in “condolence diplomacy” presented itself just as it had for prime minister Noburo Takeshita decades earlier. Takeshita was said to meet with 40 dignitaries during the week of the grand funeral for Emperor Hirohito in 1989, including Soviet Premier Nikolai Ryzhkov and US President George H.W. Bush, whom he supposedly left the meeting with on a first-name basis.
Politics, even the international kind, never ceases.
Kishida himself would meet with dignitaries from 30 nations for Abe’s memorial, including hosting a state dinner on the eve of the funeral for the US delegation headed by Vice President Kamala Harris. Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with Kishida on the morning of the funeral, where the two further affirmed to deepen security and defence cooperation and coordination regarding the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. The Australia-Japan Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation was unveiled a month later and Australia has continued to work pragmatically with Japan with its opposition towards China joining the CPTPP.
In Iran, following Raisi’s death in May, foreign dignitaries from a reported 68 states arrived in Tehran to pay their respects. Although a much maligned state, with some foreign governments criticised for expressions of sympathy, Raisi’s funeral nonetheless offered Iran the opportunity to agitate against US-led sanctions and strengthen relations with neighbouring Arab states while it continues to engage in proxy battles with the United States and Israel.
Notable guests included the Tunisian president, which marked the first visit of its kind between the two states; the Egyptian foreign minister, the first visit at that level since the Iranian Revolution in 1979; and the Pakistani prime minister, despite the two countries exchanging airstrikes on each other’s territory earlier this year.
The attendance of the Saudi and UAE foreign ministers coincided with the heads of the Iran-backed proxy groups Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthi rebels – the latter all the more remarkable given attacks on Saudi Arabia and the UAE in recent years. The Saudi presence at the funeral reaffirmed a preference to prioritise ongoing peace talks with their enemy in Yemen while Riyadh continues to refrain from getting involved in the ongoing Red Sea conflict between the Houthis and the US-led coalition.
Bilateral meetings were held with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei as well as the acting Iranian president and foreign minister, and perhaps gave dignitaries a better read on the reformist presidential candidate, Masoud Pezeshkian, who won the Iranian run-off election over the weekend. The funeral helped underscore the improvement of Iran’s regional status under Raisi, which as one Iran analyst noted, had largely gone unnoticed in the West.
None of this should be seen as exploiting a poignant moment. More it is an acknowledgment that politics, even the international kind, never ceases. Bitter rivals can acknowledge the rituals of mortality.
