Iran president death latest: Ebrahim Raisi’s funeral procession underway as US says he had ‘blood on his hands’
Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, along with foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, died in the helicopter crash on Sunday
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A funeral procession for the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi took place in the city of Tabriz on Tuesday, close to the site where his helicopter crashed on Sunday afternoon.
Tens of thousands of people turned out for the event in the capital of the Iranian province of East Azerbaijan, expected to be one of several processions across the country over the coming weeks. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is expected to lead congregational funeral prayers in Tehran after another procession in the holy city of Qom.
Despite the vast turnout, mourning across the country for the hardline leader has been muted. Raisi, nicknamed the “Butcher of Tehran” for his role in executing anti-regime protesters in the 1980s, also presided over a vicious crackdown against further protest in 2022 and last year.
US State department spokesperson Matt Miller said Raisi “has blood on his hands” for his involvement in suppressing dissent.
He described the former hardline cleric as “a brutal participant in the repression of the Iranian people for nearly four decades”.
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Mourners surround truck carrying remains of Iran president killed in helicopter crash
Mourners surround truck carrying remains of Iran president killed in helicopter crash
Mourners lined the streets of the Iranian city of Tabriz on Tuesday (21 May) for the funeral of President Ebraham Raisi who was killed in a helicopter crash days earlier. A vehicle carried the bodies of Raisi, as well as the Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, a senior cleric from Tabriz, a Revolutionary Guard official and three crew members. The crash on Sunday killed all eight people aboard the Bell 212 helicopter that Iran purchased in the early 2000s, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. The group were found dead on Monday hours after their helicopter crashed in fog.
We’re closing our live coverage of the Iran helicopter crash but keep checking independent.co.uk for the latest updates.
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