President Ebrahim Raisi was buried in the Iranian holy city of Mashhad on Thursday as many thousands of mourners packed its streets for his funeral, four days after he died in a helicopter crash.
The burial ceremony was attended by Iranian government and military officials, as well as religious personalities.
Flowers were thrown at his coffin as it moved slowly aboard a truck through throngs of mourners to be buried at the gold-domed Imam Reza shrine, Iran’s holiest Islamic site and revered as the resting place of the 9th century Imam Ali al-Reza. Raisi hailed from Mashhad, 900 km east of Tehran.
Earlier, thousands had paid their respects as his coffin was driven in a motorcade through the eastern city of Birjand.
Eight passengers and crew were killed when the helicopter crashed in mountainous terrain near the Azerbaijan border. They included Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian. Iran proclaimed five days of mourning.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited Thran on Wednesday to express condolences to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The Prime Minister also met with Acting President Mohammad Mokhber.
