Iran president death latest: Ebrahim Raisi’s funeral procession underway as US says he had ‘blood on his hands’

Iran’s Secretary of the Association of Exporters of Technical and Engineering Services has claimed the Iraqi government has failed to settle over a billion dollars owed to Iranian contractors, Iran International reports.

Bahman Salehi Javid also revealed that the families of several Iranian engineers who were killed in 2015 during ISIS attacks have not received any of the $9 million compensation per victim, legally stipulated by Iraqi laws.

Thousands of Iranians have turned out to mourn the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi after he was killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday.

A video broadcast by state media showed hordes of mourners gathering for a procession through the city of Tabriz in northwest Iran, near the site where the politician’s helicopter crashed.

Raisi, 63, was one of eight passengers, including the foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, on board the helicopter as it flew through a mountainous region south of neighbouring Azerbaijan in foggy conditions.

Despite the huge crowds on Tuesday, most of whom appeared to be male, swathes of the Iranian population have been celebrating Raisi’s death on social media. It is also unclear what international presence a funeral this week will draw, as Raisi faced US sanctions for his part in mass executions in 1988 and for abuses targeting protesters and dissidents while leading the country’s judiciary. Iran under Raisi also shipped bomb-carrying drones to Russia to be used in its war on Ukraine.

“I don’t feel comfortable sending condolences while Iran is sending drones that are used against civilians in Ukraine,” wrote Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis on the social platform X.

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The US State Department said: “The United States expresses its official condolences for the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian, and other members of their delegation in a helicopter crash in northwest Iran.

“As Iran selects a new president, we reaffirm our support for the Iranian people and their struggle for human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

The funeral of Iranpresident Ebrahim Rasi was held following his death in a helicopter crash.

The Iranian president, the country’s foreign minister and several other officials were found dead on Monday, hours after their helicopter crashed in a foggy, mountainous region of the country’s northwest, Iran state media reported.

Iran‘s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has appointed Mohammad Mokhber as the country’s acting president following the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.

Raisi, his foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and two senior local officials were travelling in a helicopter with their security detail when the aircraft crashed in the mountainous region of Iran’s northwest on Sunday.

The crash site was discovered on the side of a steep mountain on Monday morning with only the burned-out wreckage of the helicopter remaining. There were no survivors.

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There is a series of unanswered questions around the helicopter crash which killed Ebrahim Raisi, but one thing is clear, writes Kim Sengupta – the hardline establishment will not willingly loosen its grip on power:

Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi has been found dead in a helicopter crash after an hours-long search, according to state media.

The 63-year-old and Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were among senior officials whose bodies were found at the site of the crash in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province on Monday, the state-run Irna news agency reported.

The officials were travelling following a visit with the Azerbaijani president to discuss the joint Qiz-Qalasi Dam infrastructure project over the Aras River, which separates Iran and the Azerbaijani exclave Nakhchivan, when the helicopter crashed between Jolfa and the border region Varzaqan.

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Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi has been confirmed dead in a helicopter crash after hours of frantic searching through a foggy mountainous region.

Born to a conservative family in eastern Iran, Raisi studied theology at the seminaries in Qom.

He was a teenager when the country’s popular revolution established Iran as a theocracy, but he quickly became an enthusiastic participant in enforcing the vision of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic.

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