Iranians mourn Raisi as power struggle to succeed him gets under way
The Guardian|May 22, 2024
The body of the late Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, and the other victims of Sunday's helicopter crash have been taken by plane to the holy city of Qom and then to Tehran before a state ceremony today.
Patrick Wintour
Iranians mourn Raisi as power struggle to succeed him gets under way

Iranian state media reported on large crowds gathering to pay their respects, while behind the scenes a power struggle was under way as the regime attempts to unify around a single candidate in the snap election provisionally scheduled for 28 June.

In the unlikely event of no single candidate winning a majority, in what is likely to be a highly managed election, a runoff will be held on 5 July.

Raisi's body will eventually be taken to Birjand in the South Khorasan region Raisi represented, before going to the holy shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad, his birthplace and the final resting place.

Raisi was killed along with the foreign minister, Hossein AmirAbdollahian, and seven others when the helicopter they were travelling in crashed in thick fog in the mountainous north-east of Iran. Video has been broadcast in Iran of distraught rescuers reaching the scene of the crash in thick woodland and discovering no signs of life.

An inquest is under way into the cause, including why it was decided Raisi's helicopter should take off at the time an amber weather warning had been issued for the area.

The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, blamed US sanctions for making the Iranian civilian air industry unsafe.

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