DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s supreme leader and representatives of militia groups he supports in the Middle East gathered on Wednesday to pray over the coffins of the country’s late president, foreign minister, and other officials who perished in a helicopter crash earlier this week. Following the funeral service, hundreds of thousands of people joined a procession in honor of the deceased, marching down Tehran’s main boulevard.
In Iran's Shiite theocracy, mass demonstrations are considered crucial evidence of the regime's legitimacy and popular support.
However, Wednesday’s funeral procession for President Ebrahim Raisi and others reportedly saw a turnout that observers described as noticeably lower compared to the 2020 procession honoring Revolutionary Guard general Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad.
Many of the participants traveled to Tehran from various cities and towns across the Islamic Republic to attend the ceremony, indicating the significance of Raisi's presidency to those in Iran's capital. Raisi won the presidency in a record-low turnout and subsequently oversaw numerous crackdowns on dissent, including following the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, which sparked street protests over Iran’s mandatory hijab, or headscarf.
"In the name of Allah, we have only seen goodness from him," Khamenei expressed in Arabic, the language of Islam's holy book, the Quran. Nearby, Iran's acting president, Mohammad Mokhber, openly wept.
The tragic demise of Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and six others in Sunday's crash occurs during a politically delicate period for Iran, both domestically and internationally.
At 63 years old, Raisi had been considered a potential successor to Iran's supreme leader, 85-year-old Khamenei. Notably absent from state television footage of Wednesday's prayers were any living former presidents of Iran, apart from Khamenei, who served from 1981 to 1989. The authorities did not provide an explanation for their apparent absence.