TEHRAN: Thousands of Iranians walked sadly through the streets and roads on Tuesday for the funeral procession of President Ebrahim Raisi and seven members of his entourage who were killed in a helicopter crash.
Waving flags of Iran and portraits of Raisi, the mourners set off from a central square in the northwestern city of Tabriz, where the late Presdient was headed when his helicopter crashed on Sunday.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced five days of mourning after the death of President Ebrahim Raisi.
The United States has claimed that arch-foe Iran sought help over a helicopter crash that killed president Ebrahim Raisi and foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, as Washington also offered condolences.
The State Department said Tehran reached out after President Raisi’s aging helicopter crashed in foggy weather Sunday.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller claimed that they were asked by the Iran for help after the accident. He said, “We said that we would be willing to help — something that we would do with respect to any government in situation like this.”
He added that largely for logistical reasons, they were unable to provide that help to Iran. However, the spokesperson declined to go into more detail or describe how Tehran and Washington communicated. But he signaled Tehran was seeking help in the immediate aftermath to find the helicopter of Raisi.
World leaders also expressed their condolences with Iran after the death of President Raisi. China’s President Xi Jinping said that the “tragic death” of Raisi in a helicopter crash was “a great loss to the people of Iran”.
Chinese Foreign Ministry said, “President Xi Jinping pointed out… His tragic death is a great loss to people of Iran, and people of China have lost a good friend.”
Similarly, Russian President Vladimir Putin also sent his condolences to Iran’s Khamenei, describing the deaths of the Iranian president and FM as a “great tragedy,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
“Raisi was an outstanding political leader whose entire life was devoted to serving the country,” Putin wrote.
The Government and the people of Pakistan expressed deep sadness and shock over the tragic news of the martyrdom of President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi, and the Iranian Minister for Foreign Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in a helicopter crash.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday announced a “Day of Mourning” in the country over the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in helicopter crash in East Azerbaijan province.
In a statement via social media, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed condolences and sympathies to the people of Iran on the death of President of Iran.
