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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Mapped: Where did Iran President Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter crash?
Where did Iran President Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter crash?
The helicopter is believed to have crashed around 80 miles from where it took off on Sunday afternoon
Images show Raisi’s coffin arriving Tehran off the presidential plane
Ebrahim Raisi: Who was the Iranian president killed in fiery helicopter crash?
Ebrahim Raisi: Who was the Iranian president killed in fiery helicopter crash?
Iranian President’s life at risk with information emerging from scene of helicopter crash
How helicopter crash that killed Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi unfolded
How helicopter crash that killed Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi unfolded
Body of the 63-year-old hardliner was found in East Azerbaijan province, state media reports
Watch: Close-up of Iranian president’s helicopter wreckage
Close-up of Iranian president’s helicopter wreckage broadcast on TV after crash
Close-up images of what a Turkish television channel said were the remains of the Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi's helicopter that crashed in northwest Iran, killing him and the country’s foreign minister, were broadcast on Monday, 20 May. A News correspondent Mehmet Karatas visited what he said was parts of the helicopter in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. "We even see it broken into many pieces," he said. Iran’s State TV gave no immediate cause for the crash, which also killed foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and other senior officials. The country has declared five days of mourning.
Search team says Iranian President’s helicopter ‘completely exploded’
A team of search and rescue motorcyclists from the operation to find Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, have revealed that the wreckage of the helicopter was “completely exploded and everything was burned”, according to Iran International.
Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s former foreign minister, controversially attributed the crash to US sanctions that restrict Iran’s access to essential aviation parts.
The helicopter, a 1970s-era US Bell chopper, had been in service since the monarchy, later confiscated by the government for official use.
Observers point out that despite Iran’s strong ties with nations like Russia and China, the regime has failed to modernise or adequately maintain its aviation fleet, raising questions about the true state of its domestic military and governmental transport capabilities.
Houthis claim to have shot down US drone
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed on Tuesday they shot down an American drone over the impoverished Arab county. The U.S. military did not immediately acknowledge the claim.
If confirmed, this would be the second MQ-9 Reaper drone downed by the Houthis over the past week as they press their campaign over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
Last Friday, the Houthis claimed downing an American drone over the province of Marib, hours after footage circulated online of what appeared to be the wreckage of an MQ-9 Reaper. And early Saturday, a vessel also came under attack in the Red Sea.
Where did Iran President Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter crash?
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, a hardliner and potential successor to the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been killed in a helicopter crash.
The helicopter took off from the Khodaafarin Dam, in the Iranian province of East Azerbaijan, on Sunday afternoon.
But the helicopter later crashed in a remote and mountainous region in the Arasbaran Forest, near the border with Azerbaijan in the Varzeqan region. The helicopter had been carrying both Raisi and Amirabdollahian, as well as six other passengers and crew.
The rough distance between where the helicopter is believed to have gone down and the Khodaafarin Dam is around 80 miles.
Tom Watling has more.
Where did Iran President Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter crash?
The helicopter is believed to have crashed around 80 miles from where it took off on Sunday afternoon
Putin praises Iran's Raisi, asks parliament speaker to pass on condolences
Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the late president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, as a reliable partner always good to his word and asked the chairman of parliament on Tuesday to convey his sympathy at memorial events.
Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash near the Azerbaijan border over the weekend along with his foreign minister and seven others.
“He was truly a reliable partner, a man sure of himself, who acted in the national interest,” Russian news agencies quoted Putin as telling Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the State Duma lower house of parliament.
“He was, of course, a man of his word and it was always good to work with him. What I mean is if we came to an agreement on something, you could be sure the agreement was carried out,” Putin said.
The Kremlin leader asked Volodin, who will be attending memorial events in Iran, to pass on “words of our sincere condolences in connection with this tragedy”.
Putin expressed his condolences to interim Iranian president Mohammad Mokhber and to the whole Iranian people on Monday.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia has strengthened political, trade and military ties with Iran in a deepening relationship that the United States and Israel view with concern.
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