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Reading: Ali Khamenei led funeral prayer for the late Iranian President Raisi and others killed in a helicopter crash
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Distinct Post > World > Asia > Ali Khamenei led funeral prayer for the late Iranian President Raisi and others killed in a helicopter crash
ali-khamenei-led-funeral-prayer-for-the-late-iranian-president-raisi-and-others-killed-in-a-helicopter-crash
Asia

Ali Khamenei led funeral prayer for the late Iranian President Raisi and others killed in a helicopter crash

Jake Miller Published May 22, 2024
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Iran’s supreme leader presided over a funeral Wednesday for the country’s late president Ebrahim Raisi, foreign minister, and others killed in a helicopter crash.

Ali Khamenei held the service at Tehran University, the caskets of the dead draped in Iranian flags with their pictures on them.

“Oh Allah, we didn’t see anything but good from him,” Khamenei said in the standard prayer for the dead in Arabic, the language of Islam’s holy book, the Quran.

⚫️ Imam Khamenei led funeral prayer for President Raisi & his esteemed companions pic.twitter.com/jUoI0OApmD

— Khamenei Media (@Khamenei_m) May 22, 2024

He soon left and the crowd inside rushed to the front, reaching out to touch the coffins. Iran’s acting president, Mohammad Mokhber, stood nearby and openly wept during the service.

People then carried the coffins out on their shoulders, with chants outside of “Death to America!” They loaded them onto a semi-truck trailer for a procession through downtown Tehran to Azadi, or “Freedom,” Square, where Raisi gave speeches in the past.

In attendance were top leaders of Iran’s paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), one of the country’s major power centers. Also on hand was Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, the militant group that Iran has armed and supported during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war raging in the Gaza Strip. Before the funeral, Haniyeh spoke and an emcee led the crowd in the chant: “Death to Israel!”

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

He also recounted meeting Raisi in Tehran during Ramadan, the holy Muslim fasting month and heard the president say the Palestinian issue remains the key one of the Muslim world.

The Muslim world “must fulfil their obligations to the Palestinians to liberate their land,” Haniyeh said, recounting Raisi’s words.

Ismail Haniyeh: On behalf of the resistant nation of #Palestine and the resistance groups, we came from #Gaza to offer our condolences to the Islamic Republic of Iran, its leadership, and its people. pic.twitter.com/2G7RhRDzF9

— IRNA News Agency (@IrnaEnglish) May 22, 2024

He also described Raisi calling the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war, which saw 1,200 people killed and 250 others taken hostage, an “earthquake in the heart of the Zionist entity.” The war since has seen 35,000 Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip and hundreds of others in the West Bank in Israeli operations.

Also expected to attend services in Tehran were Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and a delegation from the Taliban of Afghanistan, including their Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mutaqqi.

The overcrowding in the Tehran funeral procession has impeded the movement of the car carrying the bodies of the martyrs of President #Raisi's helicopter crash. pic.twitter.com/9qx4diQW4Y

— IRNA News Agency (@IrnaEnglish) May 22, 2024

Iran’s theocracy declared five days of mourning over Sunday’s crash, encouraging people to attend the public mourning sessions. Typically, government employees and schoolchildren attend such events en masse, while others take part out of patriotism, curiosity or to witness historic events.

The massive funeral of the late, "unpopular" president of #Iran, #Raisi. 🇮🇷 🤍#Qom pic.twitter.com/Vu9IKgWhSW

— Mohamad Al Shami محمد الشامي 🇾🇪🇵🇸 (@mamashami) May 21, 2024

For Iran’s Shia theocracy, mass demonstrations have been crucial to demonstrating the legitimacy of their leadership since millions thronged the streets of Tehran to welcome Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979 during the Islamic Revolution and also attended his funeral 10 years later.

An estimated 1 million turned out in 2020 for processions for IRGC Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was slain in a US drone strike in Baghdad. In that ceremony, Khamenei openly wept over Soleimani’s casket alongside Raisi.

On Wednesday, Khamenei appeared composed, though he later hugged family members of the dead on his way out.

The children of the martyrs of the President Raisi's helicopter crash in the arms of the Supreme Leader during the funeral ceremony in Tehran. pic.twitter.com/vVGLZSygdr

— IRNA News Agency (@IrnaEnglish) May 22, 2024

Whether Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and others draw the same crowd remains in question, particularly as Raisi died in a helicopter crash, won his office in the lowest-turnout presidential election in the country’s history, and presided over sweeping crackdowns on all dissent.

Prosecutors already have warned people over showing any public signs of celebrating his death and a heavy security force presence has been seen on the streets of Tehran since the crash.

Raisi, 63, had been discussed as a possible successor for Iran’s supreme leader, the 85-year-old Khamenei.

His death now throws that selection into question, particularly as there is no heir-apparent cleric for the presidency ahead of the planned June 28 elections.

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