IRANIAN President Ebrahim Raisi was buried at the Imam Reza Shrine in the city of Mashhad, the Holiest Shiite Shrine in the country days after a tragic helicopter crash killed him and other senior officials in Northwest Iran.
State media claimed “three million mourners” had attended the funeral ceremonies in the capital Tehran while five hundred mosques had been prepared to welcome people across Mashhad, the hometown city of Raisi.
High-ranking officials from at least 68 countries attended a ceremony in Tehran on Wednesday to pay respect to the late Iranian leader and his companions who died from a helicopter crash near the Azerbaijan border.
World leaders from Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, and Armenia, as well as representatives from Iran-backed groups that formed the so-called Axis of Resistance, were in attendance.
No Western leaders attended the ceremony.
Raisi and his companions were returning from Azerbaijan after attending an inauguration of a dam when the tragic incident occurred on Sunday.
Some officials in Iran and Russia blamed the U.S. sanctions that hindered the country’s ability to renew and repair its decades-old fleet which Washington said was “utterly baseless. ”
The government warned residents from posting videos celebrating Raisi’s death after several footages circulated online, according to media reports.
The 63-year-old had widely been expected to succeed 85-year-old supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who led prayers for the late president’s funeral in Tehran on Wednesday.
Rafael Grossi, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the UN nuclear watchdog wants to re-engage with Iran to improve cooperation once the mourning period is over. The nuclear chief visited the Islamic Republic earlier this month to revive talks on cooperation and address concerns about the country’s nuclear program.
Once the five-day public mourning ends, Iranian authorities will focus on organizing an election to appoint Raisi’s successor set on the 28th of June.