Iranians flood streets in remembrance of Ebrahim Raisi
The Cradle, May 21, 2024 —
The Iranian president was killed alongside the foreign minister and other top officials in a tragic helicopter crash.
Millions have taken to the streets across several cities in Iran on 21 May to participate in the funeral procession of the late president Ebrahim Raisi.
Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province alongside the late foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Ayatollah Muhammed Ali Hashem, Dr. Malik Rahmati, Mahdi Mousavi, and an unnamed pilot and senior official.
The president and his companions were returning from an inauguration ceremony of a water dam project on the Aras River, where they were joined by the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev.
Following the incident, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, declared a five-day national mourning period.
Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahdidi said during the funeral ceremony in Tabriz that the nation is “mourning the loss of a beloved, popular, and humble president.”
He added that Iran is “heartbroken” by the death of a foreign minister who left “active diplomacy in critical moments for the resistance and his legacy.”
Leaders and officials sent condolence messages after the news broke about the deaths of President Raisi and his companions.
On Monday, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, “In Russia, the President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, were known as true, reliable friends of our country.”
Other officials from allied nations, resistance groups, and religious clerics sent out messages of remembrance of those killed in the helicopter crash.
Supreme Leader Khamenei said in a statement on Monday, “Our honorable Raisi worked tirelessly. In this bitter tragedy, the Iranian nation lost a devoted, sincere, valuable individual who served their country.”
There will be a total of four funerals across four sites in the country, the first being in the East Azerbaijan province, Qom, and the Grand Mosalla mosque of Tehran on Tuesday; on Wednesday morning, a final mourning ceremony will be held at the University of Tehran.