Earlier on Friday, it said the health of Karimov, who has been in hospital since last Saturday, had sharply deteriorated.
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Uzbekistan is a major cotton exporter, and it is also rich in gold and natural gas.
Uzbeks mourn the Islam Karimov in Tashkent on Saturday.
Mr Karimov’s coffin was displayed in a city square for people to pay their last respects before he was buried in a nearby cemetery.
Karimov’s wife, Tatyana Karimov, and his younger daughter, Lola Tillyaeva-Karimova, were walking behind the coffin.
Mr Karimov was criticised throughout his rule by the West and human rights groups for his authoritarian style of leadership.
“We are in constant contact with the Iranian embassy in Tashkent to take part in funeral of late president of Uzbekistan at the highest possible level”, Qassemi said.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim became the first foreign leader to offer condolences over the death of Karimov.
(AP Photo/Umida Akhmedova). Police guard as people gather along a road to watch the funeral procession of President Islam Karimov in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, early Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016. “If a child of mine chose such a path, I myself would rip off his head”.
The decision is expected to be made by a small group of senior officials and family members behind closed doors.
Born on 30 January, 1938, Karimov was raised in an orphanage in Samarkand.
In 1989, he was appointed first secretary of the central committee of the Uzbek branch of the Soviet Communist Party.
The end of Karimov’s monolithic presidency leaves no apparent successor, as well as concern that the ensuing political uncertainty could leave an opening for Islamic extremists to coalesce.
Law enforcement and security services grew increasingly powerful and abusive, and the use of torture in prisons was labeled “systematic” by global observers.
Karimov was derided by Western governments as a dictator who violated human rights, but for many people in Uzbekistan, a mainly Muslim ex-Soviet state which borders Afghanistan, he is the only head of state they have ever known. In the most notorious incident of his rule, hundreds of unarmed civilians, including children, were gunned down during peaceful protests in the city of Andijan in 2005.
All of his election victories were landslides, but none were recognized as free or fair by worldwide observers.
The Interfax news agency said the square was packed with thousands of men – women were excluded – to hear a mufti give a funeral prayer that said “Islam Karimov served his people”. A number of government officials were supposedly in line to succeed the president, including Karimov’s daughter, Gulnara, but it is reported that she is under house arrest for criticizing government officials on Twitter.
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Uzbek opposition blogger Nadezhda Atayeva said on Friday that Uzbek authorities appeared to be cracking down on communication channels.
