Iran bids farewell to President Raisi, killed in plane crash

Iran has declared five days of mourning in connection with the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a plane crash. A funeral ceremony in memory of Raisi and other victims of the helicopter crash that occurred on May 19 began in the city of Tabriz on Tuesday. The bodies will then be taken to Tehran, where the main farewell ceremony will be held, led by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. On Thursday evening, Ebrahim Raisi will be buried in the northeastern city of Mashhad, where he was born.

Meanwhile, Iranian authorities have announced that the country’s presidential elections will be held on June 28, state media reported.

Until elections, in accordance with Article 131 of the Iranian Constitution, the powers of the President are transferred to the First Deputy. Since 2021, this position has been held by Mohammad Mokhber.

The Chief of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Mohammad Bagheri, ordered an investigation into the causes of the helicopter crash, reports the Iranian news agency ISNA.

The helicopter carrying Raisi, as well as Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and six other people, disappeared in East Azerbaijan province in northwestern Iran on the evening of May 19. The Iranian delegation was returning from Azerbaijan, where Raisi and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev inaugurated a dam on the Araks River on the border of the two countries. In total, there were three helicopters in the Iranian president’s motorcade, two of them landed safely.

The IRNA agency, meanwhile, writes that the helicopter could have crashed due to some technical malfunction.

Earlier, Iranian media cited difficult weather conditions as possible causes of the disaster – there was heavy fog in the area of ​​the crash.

World leaders expressed Condolences on the death of Raisi. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres saidI’m sad, Vladimir Putin named Raisi is a true friend of Russia. At the same time, the son of the deposed Shah of Iran statedthat condolences over Raisi’s death are an insult to the memory of his victims, and Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi statedthat the death of President Raisi means that he will “avoid trial for his crimes.”

Raisi was 63 years old. He took over as President of Iran in 2021. He was previously the prosecutor general and head of the judiciary of the Islamic republic. He is considered a hardliner in the confrontation with the United States and Israel. Some analysts had speculated that Raisi would become the successor to Iran’s 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.