Iran on Thursday prepared to inter its late president at the holiest site for Shiite Muslims in the Islamic Republic, a final sign of respect for a protege of Iran's supreme leader killed in a helicopter crash earlier this week.
President Ebrahim Raisi's burial at the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad caps days of processionals through much of Iran, seeking to bolster the country's theocracy after the crash that killed him, the country's foreign minister and six others.
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Mourners carry the coffin of late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during his burial ceremony in Mashhad
(Photo: Reuters)
However, the services have not drawn the same crowds as those who gathered for services for Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani in 2020, slain by a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad.
Raisi's coffin was flown to Mashhad in northeast Iran after a funeral procession was held for him on Thursday morning in the eastern city of Birjand, where thousands paid their respects as his remains were driven through the streets in a motorcade.
A guard of honor stood to attention as the plane carrying Raisi's coffin arrived in Mashhad, his hometown, where he will be laid to rest at the gold-domed Imam Reza shrine, the holiest Islamic site in Iran and revered by Shi'ite Muslims as the resting place of the 9th century Imam Ali al-Reza.
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Ebrahim Raisi stands under a portraait of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
(PHoto: Atta Kenare / AFP)
Raisi, 63, was widely seen as a candidate to succeed 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who wields ultimate power in Iran. Mohammad Mokhber, who had been first vice president, is serving as interim president until a June election.
Eight passengers and crew were killed when the helicopter crashed in mountainous terrain near the Azerbaijan border.
A ceremony was held to commemorate Amirabdollahian at the foreign ministry in Tehran, where acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani described him as a martyr who had "guaranteed the revolutionary nature of the foreign ministry".
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A truck carrying coffins of the late President Ebrahim Raisi and his companions killed in helicopter crash
(Photo by Majid Saeedi / Getty Images)
Amirabdollahian will be buried south of Tehran in the Shah Abdolazim shrine, a mausoleum where notable Iranian politicians and artists are buried.
Iran proclaimed five days of mourning for Raisi, who enacted the hardline policies of his mentor Khamenei aimed at entrenching clerical power, cracking down on opponents, and adopting a tough line on foreign policy issues such as nuclear talks with Washington to revive Iran's 2015 nuclear pact.
A presidential election has been scheduled for June 28.