Tens of hundreds mourned Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi on Tuesday after his demise in a helicopter crash, amid political uncertainty forward of an election for his successor subsequent month.
Raisi and 7 members of his entourage together with overseas minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian had been killed when their plane got here down on a fog-shrouded mountainside in northern Iran on Sunday.
Waving Iranian flags and portraits of the late president, mourners marched within the northwestern metropolis of Tabriz, the place Raisi’s helicopter had been headed when it crashed.
Black-clad mourners beat their chests as they walked behind a lorry carrying the coffins of Raisi and those that died with him.
“We, the members of the federal government, who had the honour to serve this beloved president, the hardworking president, pledge to our pricey folks and chief to observe the trail of those martyrs,” Inside Minister Ahmad Vahidi mentioned in a speech.
From Tabriz, Raisi’s physique was taken to the Shiite clerical centre of Qom later Tuesday earlier than being moved to Tehran, the place large banners hailing him as “the martyr of service” have appeared across the metropolis.
In Qom, the procession moved towards the town’s important shrine of Massoumeh as mourners waved the Shiite pink flag and the yellow flag of the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah group.
The official IRNA information company mentioned the funerals in Iran had been attended by “lots of of hundreds” of individuals.
Contact with Raisi’s helicopter was misplaced in dangerous climate on the return flight to Tabriz after the inauguration of a joint dam undertaking on Iran’s border with Azerbaijan, in a ceremony together with his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev.
An enormous search and rescue operation was launched, and state tv introduced his demise early on Monday.
– Nationwide mourning –
Over footage of Raisi and as a voice recited Koranic verses, the broadcaster mentioned “the servant of the Iranian nation, Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi, has achieved the best stage of martyrdom”.
In addition to the president and overseas minister, provincial officers, members of Raisi’s safety group and the helicopter crew all died within the crash.
Armed forces chief of employees Mohammad Bagheri ordered an investigation into the crash as Iranians nationwide mourned Raisi and his entourage.
Tens of hundreds of individuals gathered within the capital’s Valiasr Sq. on Monday.
Iran’s highest safety physique, the Supreme Nationwide Safety Council, mentioned the “huge presence” of mourners on the funeral “assured the soundness and nationwide safety of the Islamic republic”.
On Tuesday, the Meeting of Specialists, a key clerical physique answerable for choosing or dismissing Iran’s supreme chief, held its first session since being elected in March, with the seat reserved for Raisi carrying his portrait.
Raisi, who was broadly anticipated to succeed present supreme chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had been a member of the physique since 2006.
Khamenei wields final authority in Iran, and has declared 5 days of nationwide mourning.
He has assigned vice chairman Mohammad Mokhber, 68, as caretaker president till the June 28 election for Raisi’s successor.
Iran’s high nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri, who was Amir-Abdollahian’s deputy, has been named performing overseas minister.
– Residence city funeral –
A ceremony for the crash victims will likely be held in Tehran at 8:00 pm (1630 GMT) Tuesday forward of processions within the capital on Wednesday morning earlier than Khamenei leads prayers at a farewell ceremony.
Nations together with Turkey and Russia have introduced they may ship representatives to the funeral.
Raisi’s physique will likely be flown from Tehran to his house metropolis of Mashhad within the northeast, the place he will likely be buried on Thursday night after funeral rites on the Imam Reza shrine.
Raisi, 63, was elected president in 2021. The ultra-conservative’s time in workplace noticed mass protests, a deepening financial disaster and unprecedented armed exchanges with arch-enemy Israel.
Raisi succeeded the average Hassan Rouhani at a time when the economic system was battered by US sanctions imposed over Iran’s nuclear actions.
Messages of condolence flooded in from Iran’s allies across the area, together with Syria, Palestinian militant group Hamas and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, each of that are backed by Tehran.
It was an unprecedented Hamas assault on Israel that sparked the devastating conflict within the Gaza Strip, now in its eighth month, and hovering tensions between Israel and the “resistance axis” led by Iran.
Israel’s presumed killing of seven Revolutionary Guards in a drone strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1 triggered Iran’s first ever direct assault on Israel, involving lots of of missiles and drones.
In a speech simply hours earlier than his demise, Raisi underlined Iran’s assist for the Palestinians, a centrepiece of its overseas coverage because the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Palestinian flags have flown alongside Iranian flags at ceremonies held for the late president.
Tribute was additionally paid to Raisi by a China-led regional bloc on Tuesday.
Envoys from Russia, China, India and Pakistan had been amongst those that stood for a minute’s silence at a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Astana, Kazakhstan.
…. to be continued
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