Iran’s supreme leader presides over the funeral of the president and others killed in a helicopter crash

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s supreme leader led a funeral Wednesday for the country’s late president, its foreign minister and others who died in a helicopter crash.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei held the service at Tehran University, the coffins of the dead were draped in Iranian flags with their images. A black turban lay on the coffin of the late President Ebrahim Raisi – a sign of his direct descent from the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

“Oh Allah, we have seen nothing but good from him,” Khamenei said in the standard prayer for the dead in Arabic, the language of Islam’s holy book, the Koran. He soon left and the crowd inside rushed forward and reached out to touch the coffins. Iran’s incumbent President Mohammad Mokhber stood nearby and wept openly during the service.

Afterwards, people carried the coffins out on their shoulders and chanted “Death to America!” outside. They loaded them onto a tractor-trailer and took them in a procession through downtown Tehran to Azadi Square, or “Freedom Square,” where Raisi had given speeches in the past.

In attendance were top leaders of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, one of the country’s major power centers. Also present was Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, the militant group that Iran has armed and supported during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Before the funeral, Haniyeh spoke and a moderator led the crowd in chanting, “Death to Israel!”

A woman holds a poster of the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi at the Mam Khomeini Mosque in Tehran on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, during a memorial service for him and his companions who died in a helicopter crash in a mountainous region, Iran region in the northwest of the country. Mourners in black began gathering Tuesday for days-long funerals and processions for Iran’s late president, foreign minister and others killed in a helicopter crash. It was a government-led series of ceremonies intended both to honor the dead and to show strength in a troubled Middle East. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Vahid Salemi

“I come on behalf of the Palestinian people, on behalf of the resistance factions of Gaza… to express our condolences,” Haniyeh told those in attendance.

He also reported meeting Raisi in Tehran during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting, and heard the president say that the Palestinian issue remains the most important issue facing the Muslim world.

The Muslim world “must fulfill its obligations to the Palestinians and liberate their land,” Haniyeh said, quoting Raisi’s words. He also described how Raisi called the October 7 attack that triggered the war and left 1,200 people dead and 250 taken hostage as an “earthquake at the heart of the Zionist entity.” The war has since seen 35,000 Palestinians killed in Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip and hundreds more in the West Bank.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and a delegation from the Afghan Taliban, including their Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mutaqqi, were also expected to attend the services in Tehran.

The Iranian state declared five days of mourning after Sunday’s accident and called on the population to take part in public mourning events. Typically, government employees and school children attend such events in large numbers, while others come out of patriotism, curiosity or to witness historical events.

For Iran’s Shiite theocracy, mass demonstrations have been crucial to demonstrating the legitimacy of its leadership since millions of people streamed through the streets of Tehran to greet Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini during the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and also attended his funeral 10 years later .

An estimated 1 million people attended 2020 processions for the late Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad. At that ceremony, Khamenei openly wept over Soleimani’s coffin alongside Raisi. On Wednesday, Khamenei appeared composed, although he later hugged family members of the dead on his way out.

Whether Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and others draw the same crowds remains questionable, especially since Raisi died in a helicopter crash, won office in the presidential election with the lowest voter turnout in the country’s history and ensured a sweeping crackdown on all dissent .

Prosecutors have already warned people against displaying public signs celebrating his death, and there has been a heavy presence of security forces on the streets of Tehran since the crash.

The 63-year-old Raisi was discussed as a possible successor to Iran’s 85-year-old Supreme Leader Khamenei. His death now calls this election into question, especially since there is still no designated successor to the presidency before the planned June 28 elections.

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Associated Press writers Joseph Krauss in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and Munir Ahmed and Riazat Butt in Islamabad contributed to this report.

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