TEHRAN - Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian has praised former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who died in a terrorist attack on Friday, praising him as a prominent politician whose “invaluable” job in promoting ties between Iran and Japan will not be forgotten.

In two posts in Persian and Japanese on his Twitter page, Hossein Amir Abdollahian offered condolences to the Japanese people and government over the terrorist act.

"His invaluable services as a prominent politician, including [those that aimed to] develop relations between the two nations of Iran and Japan, will not be forgotten," Amir Abdollahian wrote.

Abe, 67,  died on Friday after being shot at a campaign event, an attack that shocked a country where gun violence is virtually nonexistent.

Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, was campaigning ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for Sunday.

Addressing reporters later, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Abe had been killed in “a despicable and barbaric manner.”