Iran’s President Raisi to Be Laid to Rest in Shrine of Imam Reza


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The streets of Iran’s northeastern city of Mashhad leading to the holy shrine of the eighth Shiite imam are jam-packed with mourners attending late President Ebrahim Raisi’s funeral procession.

The Iranian president, who passed away at age 63 in a tragic helicopter crash on May 19, is going to be laid to rest on the premises of the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS) in Mashhad on Thursday afternoon.

A massive funeral service is underway in the streets of Mashhad, the capital of Khorasan Razavi Province.

Funeral processions for the late president and his entourage have been held in Tabriz, Qom, Tehran and Birjand in the past recent days.

On Wednesday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei performed the ritual Salat al-Mayyit (prayer for the deceased) at the funeral service in Tehran.

A helicopter carrying President Raisi and his entourage crashed in northwestern mountainous forests on May 19.

The fatal accident happened as the president was returning from Khoda Afarin region in Iran’s northwestern province of East Azarbaijan after inaugurating a dam at the common border with the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The crash killed President Raisi, Foreign Minister Amirabdollahian, Friday prayers leader of Tabriz Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Al-e-Hashem, Governor of East Azarbaijan Malek Rahmati, the commander of the president’s security team, two pilots and a flight crew.