Alwaght- The body of Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi who was martyred in a helicopter crash Sunday has been laid to rest at Imam Reza, the eighth Shiite Imam, shrine in the city of Mashhad.
The burial concluded days of nationwide mourning after the tragic accident to the president, the foreign minister, and several other officials.
At least three million mourners marched in his home town Mashhad Thursday to bid farewell to President Raeisi, the mega city's mayor said, following processions in the cities of Tabriz, Qom, Tehran and Birjand.
Later at dusk, the president's body was lowered into a tomb at the Imam Reza (AS) Shrine, where Shia Islam’s eighth imam is buried and millions of pilgrims visit each year.
The 63-year-old president lost his life on Sunday alongside his foreign minister and six others after their helicopter went down in the country's mountainous northwest while heading to inaugurate an upgraded oil refinery unit in Tabriz.
The incident engulfed Iran in shock and grief and generated a groundswell of support and solidarity from Muslims and non-Muslims across the world.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, expressing his deep sorrow over the "martyrdom-like passing", announced five days of national mourning on Monday.
The cortege carrying the coffins of the "martyrs" attracted huge numbers of mourners who thronged main thoroughfare and adjoining streets for several kilometers, wherever it went.
In Tehran, Ayatollah Khamenei and representatives of the regional resistance groups prayed over the coffins Wednesday, before millions of people followed a procession down Tehran’s main boulevard.
“Oh Allah, we didn’t see anything but good from him,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in Arabic. Iran’s acting president, Mohammad Mokhber, and other officials stood nearby and some openly cried.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh attended the prayers and recounted President Raeisi telling him that the Oct. 7 operation by Palestinian fighters against Israel was an “earthquake in the heart of the Zionist entity”.
Statesmen from West Asia and beyond from some 50 countries attended a later memorial service, including Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Tunisian President Kais Saied.
Tajikistan's President Imomali Rahmon, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the UAE's minister of foreign affairs, were other foreign representatives who traveled to Tehran, meeting Iranian leaders to express their condolences.
