Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi has been laid to rest, concluding days of mourning attended by millions after his tragic death in a helicopter crash.
In Mashhad, at least three million mourners gathered on Thursday to pay their final respects, following massive processions in Tabriz, Qom, Tehran, and Birjand. The president was interred at the Imam Reza (AS) Shrine, a significant site for Shia Muslims.
Raeisi, 63, perished on Sunday along with his foreign minister and six others when their helicopter crashed in northwest Iran en route to inaugurate an oil refinery unit in Tabriz. The incident has left Iran in profound shock and grief, eliciting global condolences.
Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, mourning Raeisi's "martyrdom-like passing," declared five days of national mourning. The cortege, carrying the coffins of the deceased, drew vast crowds of mourners through major thoroughfares across Iran.
In Tehran, Ayatollah Khamenei, alongside regional resistance group representatives, led prayers over the coffins on Wednesday. Prominent figures like Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who praised Raeisi’s support for Palestinian fighters, were also in attendance.
Foreign dignitaries from 60 countries, including Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, attended a memorial service, expressing their condolences.
On Thursday, millions gathered around the Imam Reza (AS) Shrine in Mashhad, weeping and paying tribute to Raeisi. As his body was transported through the crowd, mourners chanted and held placards, honoring Raeisi as a "man of the battlefield."
