TEHRAN: Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi was laid to rest on Thursday, concluding days of funeral rites attended by throngs of mourners after his death in a helicopter crash, state media reported.
Hundreds of thousands marched in his home town Mashhad to bid farewell to Raisi ahead of his burial following processions in the cities of Tabriz, Qom, Tehran and Birjand.
The 63-year-old died on Sunday alongside his foreign minister and six others after their helicopter went down in the country鈥檚 mountainous northwest while returning from a dam inauguration on the border with Azerbaijan.
Once the five days of public mourning, announced on Monday, have passed, the authorities including acting President Mohammad Mokhber will focus on organizing an election for a new president set for June 28.
Men and women, who were mainly clad in black chadors and clutching white flowers, crowded the main boulevard of Mashhad, the Islamic republic鈥檚 second city in the northeast where Raisi was born.
Some held aloft placards paying tribute to Raisi as the 鈥渕an of the battlefield鈥� as a large truck carrying his body drove through the sea of mourners.
鈥淚 have come, O king, give me refuge,鈥� said a slogan emblazoned on top of the truck, in reference to Imam Reza, the eighth imam of Shiite Islam.
Posters of Raisi, black flags and Shiite symbols were erected along the streets of Mashhad, particularly around Raisi鈥檚 final resting place 鈥� the Imam Reza shrine, a key mausoleum visited by millions of pilgrims every year.
Earlier thousands of people holding images of Raisi and waving flags lined the streets of Birjand, capital of the eastern province of South Khorasan, for the procession of Raisi鈥檚 coffin.
Raisi was South Khorasan鈥檚 representative in the Assembly of Experts, a clerical body in charge of selecting or dismissing Iran鈥檚 supreme leader.
Raisi had widely been expected to succeed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who led prayers in Tehran on Wednesday for the late president and knelt before the coffins of the eight people killed in the helicopter crash.
Among them was foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who was buried Thursday in the shrine of Shah Abdol-Azim in the town of Shahre Ray south of the capital.
Iranian officials and foreign dignitaries paid their respects to the late top diplomat at a ceremony in Tehran ahead of the burial.
Massive crowds had gathered for a funeral procession in the Iranian capital on Wednesday to pay their final respects to the president, whom officials and media dubbed a 鈥渕artyr.鈥�
Iran鈥檚 conservative newspapers carried large front-page pictures of the gathering on Thursday, hailing the ceremonies as an 鈥淓pic farewell鈥� and saying Raisi would forever remain 鈥淚n the hearts of the people.鈥�
Reformist dailies such as Sazandegi carried headlines that read: 鈥淭he last farewell.鈥�
Tunisian President Kais Saied and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani attended an afternoon ceremony for Raisi on Wednesday in which around 60 countries took part, according to the official news agency IRNA.
Member countries of the European Union were among the absentees of the ceremony, while some non-member countries, including Belarus and Serbia had representatives.
The leaders of the Iran-led 鈥渁xis of resistance鈥� regional militant groups also came to the Islamic republic for the funeral.
Among them were Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Palestinian group Hamas鈥檚 political bureau in Qatar, and senior members of Lebanon鈥檚 Hezbollah movement and Yemen鈥檚 Houthi militia as well as representatives of Islamic Jihad and Iraqi militant groups.
They met on the sidelines of the funeral with General Hossein Salami, commander of Iran鈥檚 Revolutionary Guards, and Esmail Qaani, head of the Guards鈥� foreign operations arm, the Quds Force, for talks on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Khamenei, who wields ultimate authority in Iran, declared the five days of national mourning and assigned vice president Mokhber, 68, as caretaker president until the June 28 election.
A presidential election in Iran had not been expected until next year, and the crash has caused some uncertainty as to who will succeed Raisi, with some expressing concern about the upcoming president.
鈥淗ow do I find someone like him? I鈥檓 really worried about that,鈥� said 31-year-old cleric Mohsen at Wednesday鈥檚 gathering in Tehran. 鈥淎s far as I know, we don鈥檛 have anyone of his stature.鈥�
Raisi was elected president in 2021, succeeding the moderate Hassan Rouhani at a time when the economy was battered by US sanctions imposed over Iran鈥檚 nuclear activities.
The ultra-conservative鈥檚 time in office saw mass protests, a deepening economic crisis and unprecedented armed exchanges with arch-enemy Israel.
After his death, Russia and China sent their condolences, as did NATO, while the UN Security Council observed a minute鈥檚 silence.
Messages of condolence also flooded in from Iran鈥檚 allies around the region, including the Syrian government as well as Hamas and Hezbollah.