Armed forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri orders investigation into cause of helicopter crash
\n TEHRAN
\nHuge crowds of Iranians thronged the streets of the capital Tehran on Wednesday for the funeral procession of president Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage, who died in a helicopter crash.
\nIn the city centre, mourners clutching portraits of Raisi gathered in and around the University of Tehran, where Iran\u2019s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, led the prayers.
\nFlanked by top officials, Ayatollah Khamenei said prayers over the coffins of the dead, who also included Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
\nThe leader of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, joined the procession, as did the deputy leader of the Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah, Naim Qassem.
\n\u201cI say once again… we are sure that the Islamic Republic of Iran will continue its support for the Palestinian people,\u201d Haniyeh told the crowd to chants of \u201cDeath to Israel\u201d.
\nRead What happens if an Iranian president dies in office?
\nRaisi\u2019s helicopter crashed into a fog-shrouded mountainside in northwestern Iran on Sunday as he headed back to the city of Tabriz after attending a ceremony on the border with Azerbaijan.
\nA huge search and rescue operation was launched, involving help from Turkey, Russia and the European Union. State television announced Raisi\u2019s death early on Monday.
\nRaisi, who was widely expected to succeed Khamenei as supreme leader, was 63.
\nIn the capital, huge banners have gone up hailing the late president as \u201cthe martyr of service\u201d, while others bade \u201cfarewell to the servant of the disadvantaged\u201d.
\nFrom the university, the coffins will be driven to the huge Enghelab Square in the city centre and on to Azadi Square, state media said.
\nFuneral rites for Raisi and his entourage began on Tuesday with processions through Tabriz and the Shiite clerical centre of Qom drawing tens of thousands of black-clad mourners.
\nFrom Tehran, the bodies will be taken to Iran\u2019s second city of Mashhad, Raisi\u2019s hometown in the northeast, where he will be buried on Thursday evening after funeral rites at the Imam Reza shrine.
\nAyatollah Khamenei, who wields ultimate authority in Iran, has declared five days of national mourning and assigned vice president Mohammad Mokhber, 68, as caretaker president until a June 28 election for Raisi\u2019s successor.
\nIran\u2019s top nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri, who was Amir-Abdollahian\u2019s deputy, has been named acting foreign minister.
\nThe country\u2019s armed forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri has ordered an investigation into the cause of the helicopter crash.
\nRaisi was elected president in 2021, succeeding the moderate Hassan Rouhani at a time when the economy was battered by US sanctions imposed over Iran\u2019s nuclear activities.
\nAfter his death, global allies Russia and China sent their condolences, as did NATO, while the UN Security Council observed a minute\u2019s silence.
\nMessages of condolence also flooded in from Iran\u2019s allies around the region, including the Syrian government as well as Hamas and Hezbollah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Armed forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri orders investigation into cause of helicopter crash TEHRAN Huge crowds of Iranians thronged the streets of the capital Tehran on Wednesday for the funeral procession of president Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage, who died in a helicopter crash. In the city centre, mourners clutching portraits of Raisi gathered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408763,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-408732","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n