Iran’s supreme leader led tens of thousands of mourners on Wednesday in a grand funeral in the capital, Tehran, for the late president, foreign minister and others killed in a helicopter crash.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei held the service at Tehran University, the coffins of the dead draped in Iranian flags with their photos on them. On the coffin of the late President Ebrahim Raisi was a black turban, signifying his direct descent from Islam’s prophet Muhammad.
“Oh Allah, we have seen only good from him,” Khamenei said in the standard prayer for the dead in Arabic, the language of Islam’s holy book, the Quran. He quickly left and the crowd inside rushed forward, reaching out to touch the coffins. Iran’s interim president, Mohammad Mokhber, stood nearby and wept openly during the service.
People then carried the coffins on their shoulders, outside chanting “Death to America!” » They loaded them onto a tractor-trailer for a procession through downtown Tehran to Azadi, or “Freedom,” Square, where Raisi had given speeches in the past.
This followed somber but subdued ceremonies on Tuesday in the cities of Tabriz and Qom.
Present were the top leaders of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards, one of the country’s main centers of power.
Also present was Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, the militant group that Iran has armed and supported during the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas raging in the Gaza Strip. Naim Qassem, second-in-command of Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group backed by Iran, is also expected to attend.
Foreign delegates, including officials from Iraq, Pakistan, Qatar, Afghanistan, Egypt, Tunisia, Tajikistan, Armenia and Azerbaijan, are also expected at the services in Tehran. Russia, a close ally of Iran, also sent the chairman of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin. Chinese media reported Wednesday that Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing would also attend.
Before the funeral, Haniyeh spoke and an entertainer led the crowd in chanting: “Death to Israel!”
“I come on behalf of the Palestinian people, on behalf of the resistance factions of Gaza…to express our condolences,” Haniyeh told those gathered.
He also recounted his meeting with Raisi in Tehran during Ramadan, the holy month of Muslim fasting, and heard the president say that the Palestinian issue remains the key issue in the Muslim world.
The Muslim world “must fulfill its obligations to the Palestinians to liberate their land,” Haniyeh said, echoing Raisi’s remarks. He also described Raisi calling the October 7 attack that sparked the war, which left 1,200 people dead and another 250 taken hostage, “an earthquake in the heart of the Zionist entity.” The war since has seen 35,000 Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip and hundreds more in the West Bank during Israeli operations.
Tehran residents received text messages on Tuesday containing details of Raisi’s funeral ceremony, similar to text messages sent by authorities to encourage participation in other public ceremonies.
Iran’s theocracy declared five days of mourning following Sunday’s accident, encouraging people to attend public mourning sessions. Wednesday was designated a public holiday.
Funerals will take place Thursday in two other cities. Raisi is expected to rest Thursday afternoon in the holy city of Mashhad.
But it was unclear whether Raisi’s death would lead to public mourning on a scale comparable to mass funerals like those of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian commander killed in a U.S. airstrike in 2020. The theocratic regime often uses such events as a demonstration of national strength and unity.
Some expressed relief at the death of Raisi, 63, who was also known for presiding over the brutal crackdown on political opponents and protesters.
Raïssi was a hard-line conservative, unlike his more moderate predecessor, Hassan Rouhani. His tenure saw the country increasingly clash with the West, particularly over the role of Tehran-backed militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, and advancing its nuclear program after the US withdrawal of a historic nuclear agreement.
Even if most observers agree on the absence of a major threat to the stability of the regime, the late president was among the main contenders to replace the aging Khamenei. His death raised fears of a succession crisis amid already heightened tensions after Tehran’s unprecedented direct retaliation against Israel.
Iran’s first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, was quickly appointed as interim president ahead of elections to choose a new president due to take place within the next 50 days.
As Iran investigates the incident that killed Raisi and seven others, new details emerged Sunday from a senior official who was part of the convoy.
Gholam Hossein Esmaili, the president’s chief of staff, told the official IRNA news agency that he was traveling in the helicopter behind Raisi. He said they were separated from Raisi’s helicopter after climbing to avoid clouds. He said his helicopter then turned around once the pilot realized the helicopter carrying Raisi was missing, but the pilot was unable to connect to the missing helicopter by radio.
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