UPDATE - Iran to hold funeral processions for Raisi on Tuesday

UPDATES WITH DETAILS, REVISES HEADLINE, ADDS CHANGES, EDITS THROUGH

By Syed Zafar Mehdi

TEHRAN, Iran (AA) - Iran will hold funeral processions in several Iranian cities on Tuesday for President Ebrahim Raisi and other senior officials killed in a helicopter crash before his burial in the northeastern city of Mashhad on Thursday.

A funeral ceremony will be held for Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in the northern city of Tabriz on Tuesday morning, local media said, citing officials in East Azerbaijan province in northwestern Iran.

Their bodies will be flown later in the day to the central Iranian city of Qom, which is home to one of the revered shrines and religious seminaries where Raisi studied.

Following the second funeral in Qom, they will be brought to the capital Tehran, where Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is expected to lead congregational funeral prayers for them.

On Thursday, according to the itinerary, Raisi will be taken to his hometown of Mashhad for burial at the revered shrine of Imam Reza.

Raisi, the 8th Iranian president since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, served as the custodian of the Imam Reza shrine for several years before becoming the country's judiciary chief in 2019 and president in 2021.

After a nightlong search operation hampered by bad weather, Raisi, Amir-Abdollahian, and other top officials were declared dead on Monday morning.

Dozens of emergency rescue teams were dispatched to the mountainous area in East Azerbaijan province, where the accident occurred Sunday afternoon.

According to the Iranian Constitution, First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber will assume powers of the presidency, and elections will be held within 50 days.