Funeral ceremonies have begun for Iran’s late president Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash several days ago.
The fifty-year old aircraft to smash into the side of a remote mountainside during foggy weather on Sunday morning. Investigations are currently underway.
Israel was quick to wash its hands of responsibility. Meanwhile, Russia’s Lavrov took the opportunity to blame US sanctions against Iran for causing aviation safety issues inside the country – explaining that the US-made aircraft was not able to be repaired with American spare parts.
In any case, Iran is currently in five days of national mourning for the ultraconservative leader who would have been a successor of the Ayatollah.
The caskets of the victims are currently being transferred from Tabriz to Qom, Iran’s second most sacred city after Mashhad and Raisi’s city of education.
Another procession is planned to begin at 16:30 local time, crossing two holy sites in the city – Jamkaran Mosque and Fatima Masoumeh Shrine, reports the BBC.
State media are reporting that the bodies will be carried around the shrine.
The bodies will then be transported to the Grand Mosalla mosque of Tehran, where a ceremony will begin at 20:00 local time.
The Supreme Leader Khamenei is expected to lead congregational prayers for Raisi in Tehran. The burial will then take place in the shrine of the eighth Shia Imam at Mashhad on Thursday.
Photos already show thousands gathering in the street for the occasion – despite Raisi’s reputation over the years as a tight-lipped enforcer of oppression against women…
Meanwhile, Iranian Prosecutor General Mohammad Kazem Movahhedi Azad has ordered a crackdown on online users who publish insults against the late president and others who died in the helicopter crash.
