Iranians pay last respects to president killed in helicopter crash
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TEHRAN - Thousands of Iranians walked sombrely through the streets on May 21 to mourn president Ebrahim Raisi and seven members of his entourage who were killed in a helicopter crash.
Waving Iranian flags and portraits of the late president, the mourners set off from a central square in the north-western city of Tabriz, where Mr Raisi was headed when his helicopter crashed on May 19 on a fog-shrouded mountainside in the north-west.
They walked behind a lorry carrying the coffins of Mr Raisi and his seven aides.
“We, the members of the government, who had the honour to serve this beloved president, the hardworking president, pledge to our dear people and leader to follow the path of these martyrs,” Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said in a speech.
The helicopter lost communication while it was on its way back to Tabriz after Mr Raisi attended the inauguration of a joint dam project on the Aras river, which forms part of the border with Azerbaijan, in a ceremony with his Azerbaijan counterpart Ilham Aliyev.
A massive search and rescue operation started on the afternoon of May 19, when two other helicopters in Mr Raisi’s convoy lost contact with his aircraft amid harsh weather conditions in the mountainous region.
State TV broke the news of his death early on May 20, saying “the servant of the Iranian nation, Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi, has achieved the highest level of martyrdom”, showing pictures of him as a voice recited the Quran.
Killed alongside the Iranian President were Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, members of the provincial authorities of East Azerbaijan, and his security team.
Iran’s military chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri on May 20 ordered a probe into the cause of the crash.
Following the confirmation of Mr Raisi’s death, international condolences poured in while people in cities across the Islamic republic gathered to mourn the late President and his companions.
Tens of thousands of mourners holding portraits of Mr Raisi gathered at central Valiasr Square in the capital Tehran on May 20.
National mourning
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has ultimate authority in the country, declared five days of national mourning and assigned Vice-President Mohammad Mokhber, 68, to assume interim duties ahead of polls.
State media later announced the presidential election would be held on June 28.
Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri, who served as deputy to Mr Amirabdollahian, was tapped to serve as the acting foreign minister.
After leaving Tabriz, Mr Raisi’s body will arrive in Iran’s Shi’ite clerical centre of Qom later on May 21 before being moved to Tehran.
Ayatollah Khamenei is due to hold prayers at a farewell ceremony in Tehran later on May 21, ahead of major processions due to begin the morning after.
Mr Raisi’s body will then be flown to his home city of Mashhad, in the north-east, where he will be buried on the evening of May 23 after funeral rites.
The ultra-conservative Raisi, 63, had been in office since 2021, a time during which Iran was rocked by mass protests, an economic crisis deepened by US sanctions, and armed exchanges with arch-enemy Israel.
He succeeded the moderate Hassan Rouhani, at a time when the economy was battered by US sanctions over Iran’s contested nuclear programme.
Condolence messages flooded in from Iran’s allies around the region, including the Syrian government, Palestinian militant group Hamas and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
It was an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the devastating war in Gaza, now in its eighth month, and soaring tensions between Israel and the “resistance axis” led by Iran.
Israel’s killing of seven Revolutionary Guards in a drone strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1 triggered Iran’s first ever direct attack on Israel, involving hundreds of missiles and drones.
In a speech hours before his death, Mr Raisi underlined Iran’s support for the Palestinians, a centrepiece of its foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Palestinian flags were raised alongside Iranian flags at ceremonies held for the late President. AFP
