Huge crowds of Iranians thronged the streets of the capital Tehran on Wednesday for the funeral procession of president Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage, who died in a helicopter crash.
In the city centre, mourners clutching portraits of Raisi gathered in and around the University of Tehran, where Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, led the prayers.
Flanked by top officials, Khamenei said prayers over the coffins of the dead, who also included Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
The leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, joined the procession, as did the deputy leader of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Naim Qassem.
“I say once again… we are sure that the Islamic Republic of Iran will continue its support for the Palestinian people,” Haniyeh told the crowd to chants of “Death to Israel”.
Raisi’s helicopter crashed into a fog-shrouded mountainside in northwestern Iran on Sunday as he headed back to the city of Tabriz after attending a ceremony on the border with Azerbaijan.
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The country’s armed forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri has ordered an investigation into the cause of the crash.
Raisi, who was widely expected to succeed Khamenei as supreme leader, was 63.
Tehran residents received phone messages urging them to “attend the funeral of the martyr of service”.
Burial in Mashhad
Funeral rites for Raisi and his entourage began on Tuesday with processions through Tabriz and the Shiite clerical center of Qom drawing tens of thousands of black-clad mourners.
From Tehran, the bodies will be taken to Iran’s second city of Mashhad, Raisi’s hometown in the northeast, where he will be buried on Thursday evening after funeral rites at the Imam Reza shrine.
Khamenei, who wields ultimate authority in Iran, has declared five days of national mourning and assigned vice president Mohammad Mokhber, 68, as caretaker president until a June 28 election for Raisi’s successor.
Raisi was elected president in 2021 at a time when the economy was battered by US sanctions imposed over Iran’s nuclear activities.
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Ramin Khanizadeh, with AFP
