Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Ali Sabry will depart for Iran tonight to attend the funeral of President Dr. Ebrahim Raisi in Tabriz, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The funeral procession for Raisi and other officials, who perished in a helicopter crash, commenced on Tuesday in Tabriz, located in northwestern Iran.
Tens of thousands of Iranians, including senior officials and military commanders, gathered at Martyrs Square in Tabriz to pay their respects. Following the initial funeral rites, the bodies will be transported to Qom, a central city known for its religious significance, where Raisi studied.
After the second funeral in Qom, the bodies will be moved to Tehran. There, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is expected to lead the congregational funeral prayers. On Thursday, Raisi will be taken to his hometown of Mashhad for burial at the revered shrine of Imam Reza.
Ebrahim Raisi, the 8th president of Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, previously served as the custodian of the Imam Reza shrine and later as the country’s judiciary chief before becoming president in 2021.
