President Ebrahim Raisi was laid to rest in the Iranian holy city of Mashhad on Thursday, as thousands of mourners flooded the streets to pay their final respects. Raisi, who died four days earlier in a helicopter crash, was seen as a leading candidate to succeed the 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
The funeral, broadcast by Iranian media, saw Raisi’s coffin move slowly through the packed streets aboard a truck, with flowers thrown by mourners. The procession ended at the gold-domed Imam Reza shrine, Iran’s most sacred Islamic site and the burial place of the 9th-century Imam Ali al-Reza. Raisi, 63, was a native of Mashhad, located 900 km (560 miles) east of Tehran.
The ceremony was attended by a host of Iranian government and military officials, as well as religious figures. Earlier in the day, a motorcade carried his coffin through the eastern city of Birjand, where thousands more gathered to pay their respects.
The helicopter crash that claimed Raisi’s life also killed eight other passengers and crew, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian. The crash occurred in mountainous terrain near the Azerbaijan border. Iran has declared five days of mourning for Raisi, who was known for enforcing the hardline policies of his mentor Khamenei, which included strengthening Shi’ite clerical power, suppressing public dissent, and maintaining a tough stance on foreign policy, particularly regarding talks with Washington to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal.
With Raisi’s passing, Mohammad Mokhber, who had served as the first vice president, is now acting as interim president until the presidential election on June 28.
A separate ceremony was held at the foreign ministry in Tehran to honor Amirabdollahian. Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani described him as a martyr who had “guaranteed the revolutionary nature of the foreign ministry.” Amirabdollahian was buried at the Shah Abdolazim shrine in the city of Rey, a mausoleum that houses the remains of notable Iranian politicians and artists.
