Mottaki, accompanied by Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh, shook hands with and later stood in line of the grieving nearest of kin and associates of Imad Mughniyeh, killed in a car bomb in Syria late Tuesday.

With Mughniyeh's father, Fayez, on his left and Sheik Naim Kassem, a deputy leader of Hezbollah, on his right, the Iranian officials also accepted condolences. The burial was to take place later Thursday.

Mughniyeh's assassination is considered an enormous blow to the Shiite Muslim militant group, which has close ties to Iran. The Hezbollah and Tehran have accused Israel of the bombing. Israel denied involvement.

Mughniyeh was on FBI's most wanted terror suspect list for attacks against American, Israeli and Jewish targets in the 1980s and the 1990s.