Iran's late President Raisi laid to rest in hometown Mashhad

TEHRAN - Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi, who lost his life along with his entourage in a recent helicopter crash, was laid to rest on Thursday in the holy shrine of Imam Reza in his hometown, the northeastern city of Mashhad, according to the official news agency IRNA.

Raisi's body, along with those of the two members of his accompanying team, arrived at Mashhad's international airport Thursday afternoon from Birjand, the capital of the eastern South Khorasan province, where a funeral ceremony had been held for the late president and his companions earlier in the day, the report said.

Waiting for the bodies at the airport were several Iranian officials, including cabinet ministers, as well as top military commanders, such as Commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Esmaeil Qaani, according to the IRNA.

Mashhad's Mayor Mohammad-Reza Qalandar Sharif told the IRNA that at least 3 million people from Mashhad and other cities had taken part in the funeral procession, causing the vehicle carrying the bodies of Raisi and his companions to stop momentarily several times on its way through the densely-packed streets leading to the holy shrine.

The bodies of the other two individuals, East Azarbaijan Governor Malek Rahmati and head of the president's security team Mehdi Mousavi, will be buried in the provinces of East Azarbaijan and Tehran, as reported by local media.

Raisi and his entourage were en route to East Azarbaijan province when the helicopter carrying them crashed in a mountainous area on Sunday.

Also on board the helicopter were Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, the representative of Iran's Supreme Leader to East Azarbaijan.

Amir-Abdollahian was laid to rest on Thursday in a ceremony south of the Iranian capital Tehran, according to the IRNA.