DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Grieving Iranians dressed in mourning began gathering Tuesday for funerals and funeral processions for the country’s president, foreign minister and others killed in a helicopter crash, a series of ceremonies organized by the government that seek both to honor the victims and project an image of strength in the unstable Middle East.
For Iran’s Shiite theocracy, mass demonstrations have been crucial since millions of people took to the streets of the capital, Tehran, to welcome Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979, during the Islamic Revolution. An estimated one million people participated in the funeral procession in 2020 for Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by a US drone in Baghdad.
It remains to be seen whether President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and the other deceased will attract similar attendance, especially since Raisi died in a helicopter crash, came to power in the elections with the lowest turnout in the country’s history and during his term There was widespread repression of dissent. The prosecution has already warned against any public celebration of his death and, since the incident, a strong presence of security forces has been seen on the streets of the capital.
Raisi, 63, appeared to be on the list of possible successors to the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 85. His death puts this election in doubt, especially because there is no clergyman who can inherit the position before the elections scheduled for June 28.
“Raisi’s death comes at a time when the Islamist regime is consolidated,” wrote Alex Vatanka, an Iran expert at the Middle East Institute. “In the short term, there will be no power vacuum in Tehran; however, “Post-Khamenei Iran suddenly seems much less predictable than it was a few days ago.”
On Tuesday morning, the funeral procession led by a vehicle carrying the coffins of the deceased, moved slowly through the narrow streets of the center of Tabriz, the largest city near where the accident occurred on Sunday. Thousands of people dressed in black walked slowly past the coffins, some throwing flowers, as an announcer wept through a loudspeaker for men he described as martyrs.
The bodies will be transferred to the holy city of Qom before traveling to Tehran later on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the funeral over which Khamenei will preside will also become a funeral procession. A day later, the event will be repeated in Raisi’s hometown of Birjand, followed by the funeral and burial at the shrine of Imam Reza in the holy city of Mashhad, the only imam of the Shiite faith buried in Iran.
The Iranian theocracy declared five days of mourning and encouraged the population to attend public mourning sessions. Typically, government employees and students flock to these events, while others do so out of patriotism, curiosity, or to witness historical events.
Across the country, the rural population tends to embrace the Shiite faith and the government more closely, but Tehran has long had a very different opinion of Raisi and his executive’s policies due to the mass protests that have shaken the capital for years.
