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Associated Press

Iran’s supreme leader presided over a funeral on Wednesday for the country’s late president, foreign minister and others killed in a helicopter crash, as tens of thousands later followed a procession of their caskets through the capital, Tehran.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei held the service at Tehran University, the caskets of the dead draped in Iranian flags with their pictures on them.
On the late president Ebrahim Raisi’s coffin sat a black turban – signifying him as a direct descendant of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
“Oh Allah, we didn’t see anything but good from him,” Khamenei said in the standard prayer for the dead in Arabic, the language of Islam’s holy book, the Koran.

He soon left and the crowd inside rushed to the front, reaching out to touch the coffins. Iran’s acting president, Mohammad Mokhber, stood nearby and openly wept during the service.
People then carried the coffins out on their shoulders, with chants outside of “Death to America!” They loaded them onto a semitruck trailer for a procession through downtown Tehran to Azadi, or “Freedom” Square, where Raisi gave speeches in the past.
In attendance were top leaders of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, one of the country’s major power centres.
Also on hand was Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, the militant group that Iran has armed and supported during the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas raging in the Gaza Strip. Before the funeral, Haniyeh spoke and an emcee led the crowd in the chant: “Death to Israel!”
“I come in the name of the Palestinian people, in the name of the resistance factions of Gaza … to express our condolences,” Haniyeh told those gathered.
He also recounted meeting Raisi in Tehran during Ramadan, the holy Muslim fasting month, and heard the president say the Palestinian issue remains the key one of the Muslim world.
The Muslim world “must fulfil their obligations to the Palestinians to liberate their land”, Haniyeh said, recounting Raisi’s words.
He also described Raisi calling the October 7 attack that sparked the war, which saw 1,200 people killed and 250 others taken hostage, an “earthquake in the heart of the Zionist entity”.

The war since has seen 35,000 Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip and hundreds of others in the West Bank in Israeli operations.
Also expected to attend services in Tehran were Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and a delegation from the Taliban of Afghanistan, including their Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mutaqi.
Even Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri travelled to Tehran, despite diplomatic relations between the countries being severed after the 1979 revolution. Egypt and Iran have recently discussed re-establishing ties.
But notably, none of Iran’s living past presidents – other than Khamenei – could be seen in state television footage of the prayers. They include reformist Mohammad Khatami, hardliner Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and relative moderate Hassan Rowhani – all individuals who maintain some political cachet within Iran’s tightly controlled political system.
Authorities offered no explanation for their absence from the event, which comes weeks ahead of a planned June 28 presidential election. As of now, there’s no clear favourite for the position among Iran’s political elite – particularly no one who is a Shiite cleric, like Raisi.
Iran’s theocracy declared five days of mourning over Sunday’s crash, encouraging people to attend the public mourning sessions.

Typically, government employees and schoolchildren attend such events en masse, while others take part out of patriotism, curiosity or to witness historic events.
For Iran’s Shiite theocracy, mass demonstrations have been crucial to demonstrating the legitimacy of their leadership since millions thronged the streets of Tehran to welcome Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979 during the Islamic Revolution, and also attended his funeral 10 years later.
An estimated 1 million people turned out in 2020 for processions for the late Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani, who was slain in a US drone strike in Baghdad.
In that ceremony, Khamenei openly wept over Soleimani’s casket alongside Raisi. On Wednesday, Khamenei appeared composed, though he later hugged family members of the dead on his way out.
Whether Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and others draw the same crowd remains in question, particularly as Raisi died in a helicopter crash, won his office in the lowest-turnout presidential election in the country’s history and presided over sweeping crackdowns on all dissent.
Prosecutors already have warned people over showing any public signs of celebrating his death and a heavy security force presence has been seen on the streets of Tehran since the crash.


Raisi, 63, had been discussed as a possible successor for Iran’s supreme leader, the 85-year-old Khamenei.
The only other person suggested was Khamenei’s 55-year-old son, Mojtaba. However, concerns have been raised over the position going to a family member, particularly after the revolution overthrew the hereditary Pahlavi monarchy of the shah.
Meanwhile, an Iranian official offered a new accounting of Sunday’s crash, further fuelling the theory bad weather led to it.
Gholamhossein Esmaili, who travelled in one of the two other helicopters in Raisi’s entourage, told state TV that weather had been fine when the aircraft took off.
But Raisi’s helicopter disappeared into heavy clouds and the others couldn’t reach the aircraft by radio, forcing them to land at a nearby copper mine.
Neither Amirabdollahian or a bodyguard on board responded to calls, but Tabriz Friday prayer leader Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem somehow answered two mobile phone calls, Esmaili said. It was not clear why Iran then could not track the phone’s signal.
“When we found the location of the accident, the conditions of the bodies indicated that Ayatollah Raisi and other companions had died instantly but Ale-Hashem … [died] after several hours,” he said.


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Middle East

Iran’s supreme leader presides over funeral for Ebrahim Raisi, others killed in helicopter crash

Crowds of Iranians throng the streets of the capital Tehran on Wednesday. Photo: West Asia News Agency via Reuters

Mourners  in Tehran hold posters of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi during a funeral ceremony. Photo: AFP

Iranians throng the streets of Tehran on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

Crowds in Tehran on Wednesday. Photo: AP

The flag-draped coffins in Tehran on Tuesday. Photo: Iranian Presidency Office via AP

Mourners in Iran begin days of funerals for president Raisi and others killed in helicopter crash

A picture of the late Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi is seen on his coffin during a funeral ceremony in Tabriz, Iran. Photo: West Asia News Agency via Reuters

The helicopter wreckage. Photo: West Asia News Agency via Reuters

A man weeps in downtown Tehran, Iran on Monday. Photo: dpa

How Ebrahim Raisi’s death could affect Iran’s leadership, politics and regional ties

Iranians gather in Tehran on Monday to mourn the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Photo: Zuma Press Wire/dpa

Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi during a meeting in Tehran in October. Photo: AFP

Iran’s First Vice-President Mohammad Mokhber (left) addresses the country’s cabinet in Tehran on Monday with the empty seat of the late president next to him. Photo: Iranian Presidency / AFP

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Raisi during their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow in December 2023. Putin called Raisi a “true friend of Russia”. Photo: Pool / AFP

Iranian women walk past a banner with a picture of Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran earlier this month. Photo: West Asia News Agency via Reuters

US says it was ‘unable’ to provide Iran assistance after Raisi helicopter crash

People hold up posters of President Ebrahim Raisi in downtown Tehran, Iran, on Monday. Photo: AP

Rescue team members carry a body from the crash site. Photo: Moj News Agency via AP

Death of Iran’s Ebrahim Raisi to intensify supreme leader succession battle among hardline factions

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during the annual Army Day in a military base in Tehran, Iran, on April 17. Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday. Photo: EPA-EFE

A newspaper with a picture of the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is seen in Tehran on Monday. Photo: WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

Video footage released by the Iranian Red Crescent on Monday shows rescuers recovering bodies at the site of President Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter crash in a fog-shrouded mountainous area of northwest Iran. Photo: Iranian Red Crescent / AFP

China-Iran ties to stay on course despite death of ‘good friend’ president Raisi

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday. Photo: EPA-EFE

News

World

Crowds gather in Iran’s capital for president Ebrahim Raisi, as five-day mourning period continues
Raisi and his entourage died in a helicopter crash in a foggy, mountainous region on Sunday


President Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage died in a helicopter crash on Sunday. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has declared five days of national mourning.


Iran

Iran’s supreme leader presides over funeral for Ebrahim Raisi, others killed in helicopter crash

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Crowds gather in Iran’s capital for president Ebrahim Raisi, as five-day mourning period continues Raisi and his entourage died in a helicopter crash in a foggy, mountainous region on Sunday

Crowds gather in Iran’s capital for president Ebrahim Raisi, as five-day mourning period continues

Raisi and his entourage died in a helicopter crash in a foggy, mountainous region on Sunday