Tens of thousands join President Raisi’s funeral in Tehran

Iran’s supreme leader presided over a funeral on Wednesday for the country’s late president, foreign minister, and others who died in a helicopter crash. Tens of thousands followed the procession of their caskets through Tehran.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led the service at Tehran University, with the caskets draped in Iranian flags and bearing their pictures. On President Ebrahim Raisi’s coffin, a black turban signified his lineage as a descendant of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.

During the standard Arabic prayer for the dead, Khamenei said, “Oh Allah, we didn’t see anything but good from him.” After the prayer, the crowd surged forward to touch the coffins. Iran’s acting president, Mohammad Mokhber, was visibly emotional during the service.

The coffins were carried out on shoulders amidst chants of “Death to America!” and loaded onto a semitruck trailer for a procession through downtown Tehran to Azadi Square, a place where Raisi had previously delivered speeches.

The ceremony was attended by top leaders of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, a militant group supported by Iran during the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. Before the funeral, Haniyeh addressed the crowd, expressing condolences on behalf of the Palestinian people and resistance factions in Gaza. He recalled Raisi’s support for the Palestinian cause, particularly during their meeting in Tehran during Ramadan.

Haniyeh quoted Raisi as calling the October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in 1,200 deaths and 250 hostages, an “earthquake in the heart of the Zionist entity.” The conflict has since claimed the lives of 35,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and hundreds more in the West Bank due to Israeli operations.

Other notable attendees expected at the funeral included Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and a delegation from Afghanistan’s Taliban, including Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mutaqqi. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry also traveled to Tehran, despite severed diplomatic ties since the 1979 revolution, indicating recent discussions about reestablishing relations.

Notably absent were Iran’s living former presidents—reformist Mohammad Khatami, hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and relative moderate Hassan Rouhani. The absence of these figures, who still hold political influence, was not explained by authorities. This event precedes a planned presidential election on June 28, with no clear favorite emerging among Iran’s political elite, particularly not a Shiite cleric like Raisi.

Iran declared five days of mourning following Sunday’s crash, encouraging public mourning sessions. Such mass gatherings have historically demonstrated the legitimacy of Iran’s leadership, similar to the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989.

In 2020, an estimated 1 million people attended the procession for General Qassem Soleimani, killed in a U.S. drone strike. Khamenei wept openly over Soleimani’s casket alongside Raisi. During Wednesday’s service, Khamenei appeared composed but later hugged family members of the deceased.

Whether Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and others will draw the same crowds remains uncertain, given Raisi’s controversial tenure, marked by a helicopter crash and his victory in the lowest-turnout presidential election in Iran’s history.

Prosecutors have warned against public celebrations of Raisi’s death, and heavy security has been present on Tehran’s streets since the crash.

Raisi, 63, was considered a potential successor to the 85-year-old Khamenei. However, concerns have been raised about passing leadership to Khamenei’s 55-year-old son, Mojtaba, given the revolution’s overthrow of the hereditary Pahlavi monarchy.

An Iranian official provided new details about Sunday’s crash, suggesting bad weather was a factor. Gholamhossein Esmaili, who traveled in another helicopter in Raisi’s entourage, said weather conditions worsened mid-flight, causing Raisi’s helicopter to disappear into heavy clouds and lose radio contact. They eventually landed at a nearby copper mine.

Despite attempts to reach the helicopter by phone, only Tabriz Friday prayer leader Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem answered two calls, though Iran couldn’t track the phone’s signal. Esmaili noted that Raisi and others likely died instantly, while Ale-Hashem survived for several hours before succumbing to his injuries.