Iran: Tehran holds Raisi funeral services
The focus of mourning for the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage switched to Tehran, on Wednesday, as tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the capital to join funeral processions, DW reports.
According to the AFP news agency, Tehran residents received text messages urging them to attend the funeral.
People gathered in and around the University of Tehran, many holding portraits of Raisi.
Huge banners have gone up hailing the late president as "the martyr of service" and "the servant of the disadvantaged."
The processions, which will be attended by foreign dignitaries, are planned to begin at the university and head to the central Enghelab Square, state media report.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is due to lead prayers for Raisi and his companions who were killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash in the northwestern province of East Azerbaijan on Sunday along with seven members of his entourage, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
Raisi, an ultra-conservative who was elected president in 2021 and who was widely expected to succeed Khamenei as supreme leader, was 63.
State television announced Raisi's death early on Monday while Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared five days of national mourning.
Funeral rites for the late president and his entourage began on Tuesday with tens of thousands of black-clad mourners attending processions in Tabriz and the Shiite holy city of Qom.
Messages of condolences have flooded in from Iran's allies around the world, including superpowers Russia and China but also from Iranian-backed militant Islamist groups such as Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Western countries such as Germany have also expressed sympathies, as did NATO and the UN Security Council.
