Tens of thousands of Iranians gathered on Tuesday, May 21, 2024 to mourn President Ebrahim Raisi and seven members of his entourage who died in a helicopter crash on a fog-shrouded mountainside in the northwest.
Waving Iranian flags and portraits of the late president, mourners set off from a central square in Tabriz, the city Raisi was headed to when his helicopter crashed on Sunday. They walked behind a lorry carrying the coffins of Raisi and his aides. The helicopter lost communication while returning to Tabriz after Raisi attended the inauguration of a joint dam project on the Aras river with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
A massive search and rescue operation was launched when two other helicopters accompanying Raisi’s aircraft lost contact with it due to bad weather.
State television announced his death early on Monday, saying, “The servant of the Iranian nation, Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi, has achieved the highest level of martyrdom,” while showing pictures of him with a recitation of the Koran. Among the deceased were Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, provincial officials, and members of his security team.
Iran’s armed forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri has ordered an investigation into the cause of the crash. Nationwide, Iranians gathered to mourn Raisi and his entourage, with tens of thousands in the capital’s Valiasr Square on Monday.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared five days of national mourning and appointed Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, 68, as caretaker president until a presidential election can be held on June 28. Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri, was named acting foreign minister.
Raisi’s body will be flown from Tabriz to the Shiite clerical centre of Qom on Tuesday before being moved to Tehran. Processions will be held in the capital on Wednesday morning before Khamenei leads prayers at a farewell ceremony. Raisi’s body will then be flown to his home city of Mashhad for burial on Thursday evening after funeral rites.
Raisi, 63, had been in office since 2021. His tenure saw mass protests, a deepening economic crisis, and unprecedented armed exchanges with Israel. Raisi succeeded the moderate Hassan Rouhani amid a battered economy from US sanctions over Iran’s nuclear activities.
Condolences have poured in from Iran’s allies, including the Syrian government, Hamas, and Hezbollah. In his final speech, Raisi reiterated Iran’s support for the Palestinians, a core aspect of its foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Palestinian flags were raised alongside Iranian flags at the ceremonies held for the late president.
