A lot of people marched in Iran on Thursday, the last day of the funeral for president Ebrahim Raisi. He will be buried in his village, where he died in a helicopter crash a few days earlier.
Raisi, 63, died on Sunday when his chopper crashed in the northwest of the country, near the mountains, on its way back from opening a dam. Six other people, including his foreign minister, also died.
On Thursday morning, thousands of people marched through the eastern city of Birjand to say goodbye to the president. They carried signs with Raisi’s picture on them and waved flags.
His body will be buried at the holy site of Imam Reza, a major Shiite tomb in Mashhad, a city in northeastern Iran where the very conservative president was born.
On Wednesday, Iranian media showed pictures of officials in Mashhad getting ready for the last day of funeral ceremonies.
In the streets of Iran’s second city, especially near the Imam Reza shrine, big pictures of Raisi, black flags, and Shiite symbols were put up.
The president, who was called a “martyr” by officials and the media, had a funeral parade in the capital, Tehran, on Wednesday. Huge groups of people came to pay their respects.
Many people thought Raisi would be the next president, but Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led prayers for the late president while kneeling in front of the bodies of the eight people who died in the crash.
One of them was Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who was foreign minister. He will be buried Thursday at the shrine of Shah Abdol-Azim in the town of Shahr-Rey, which is south of the city.
At a ceremony in Tehran before the burial, Iranian leaders and important people from other countries paid their respects to the late top diplomat.
State news service IRNA said that about 60 countries took part in a ceremony for Raisi on Wednesday afternoon. Tunisian President Kais Saied and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani were among the guests.
Member countries of the European Union were not at the ceremony. Some non-member countries, like Belarus and Serbia, had officials there.
Khamenei, who is in charge of everything in Iran, has called for five days of national grief and named Mohammad Mokhber, the country’s 68th vice president, as caretaker president until an election on June 28 to choose Raisi’s replacement.
Iran wasn’t supposed to have a presidential election until next year. The crash on Sunday has made it unclear who will replace Raisi, and some people are worried about the next president.
“Where can I meet someone like him?” “That worries me a lot,” said Mohsen, a 31-year-old imam, at the funeral in Tehran on Wednesday. “As far as I know, we don’t have anyone of his stature.”
Raisi was chosen president of Iran in 2021, taking over from the moderate Hassan Rouhani. At the time, the economy was being hurt by US sanctions because of Iran’s nuclear activities.
During the ultra-conservative’s time in office, there were large-scale riots, the economy got worse, and armed clashes with Israel, which was previously unheard of.
Russia, China, and NATO all sent sympathies after his death, and the UN Security Council held a minute of silence.
In addition, many of Iran’s friends in the area sent condolence messages, such as the Syrian government, Hamas, and Hezbollah.
