Your daily adult tube feed all in one place!
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei prays over Ebrahim Raisi's coffin as huge crowds of mourners throng the streets of Tehran for President's funeral days after devastating helicopter crash
Huge crowds of Iranians thronged the streets of Tehran today for the funeral march of president Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage, who died in a helicopter crash.
In the capital city centre, mourners clutching portraits of Raisi gathered in and around the University of Tehran, where Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, led the prayers.
The caskets of the dead were draped in Iranian flags with their pictures on them. On Raisi's coffin sat a black turban - signifying his direct descendance from Islam's Prophet Muhammad.
Flanked by top officials - as well as leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah - Khamenei said prayers over the coffins of the dead, who also included Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
'Oh Allah, we didn't see anything but good from him,' Khamenei said in the standard prayer for the dead in Arabic, the language of Islam's holy book, the Quran.
Huge crowds of Iranians thronged the streets of Tehran today for the funeral march of president Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage, who died in a helicopter crash on Sunday. Iran 's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (pictured centre), led the prayers over the coffins
Thousands of people lined the streets as the funeral procession moved through Tehran
The coffins were loaded onto a semitruck trailer for a procession through downtown Tehran to Azadi, or 'Freedom,' Square, where Raisi gave speeches in the past
Iran's acting president, Mohammad Mokhber - who stepped into the role after Raisi's death, stood nearby and openly wept during the service.
In attendance were top leaders of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, one of the country's major power centres.
The leader of Palestinian group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, also joined the procession, as did the deputy leader of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Naim Qassem.
'I say once again... we are sure that the Islamic Republic of Iran will continue its support for the Palestinian people,' Haniyeh told the crowd.
'I come in the name of the Palestinian people, in the name of the resistance factions of Gaza ... to express our condolences.'
Haniyeh also recounted meeting Raisi in Tehran during Ramadan, the holy Muslim fasting month, and heard the president say the Palestinian issue remains the key one of the Muslim world.
The Muslim world 'must fulfil their obligations to the Palestinians to liberate their land,' Haniyeh said, recounting Raisi's words.
He also described Raisi calling the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war, which saw 1,200 people killed and 250 others taken hostage, an 'earthquake in the heart of the Zionist entity.' The war since has seen 35,000 Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip and hundreds of others in the West Bank in Israeli operations.
As he spoke, people chanted 'Death to Israel'.
Khamenei soon left and the crowd inside rushed to the front, reaching out to touch the coffins. People then carried the coffins out on their shoulders, with more chants outside, this time of 'Death to America!'
They loaded them onto a semitruck trailer for a procession through downtown Tehran to Azadi, or 'Freedom,' Square, where Raisi gave speeches in the past.
Raisi's helicopter crashed into a fog-shrouded mountainside in northwestern Iran on Sunday as he headed back to the city of Tabriz after attending a ceremony on the border with Azerbaijan. Pictured: The wreckage of the crash is seen in this drone footage
Rescuers are seen working on the mountainside where the helicopter crashed on Sunday
A screen grab captured from a video shows from Akinci Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, which participated in search and rescue operations for the helicopter carrying the Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his delegation in Iran on May 20, 2024
The Helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is seen leaving the site of the ceremony, hours before it crashed into the mountainside on May 19, 2024
Raisi's helicopter crashed into a fog-shrouded mountainside in northwestern Iran on Sunday as he headed back to the city of Tabriz after attending a ceremony on the border with Azerbaijan.
A huge search and rescue operation was launched, involving help from Turkey, Russia and the European Union.
State television announced Raisi's death early on Monday.
Raisi, who was widely expected to succeed Khamenei as supreme leader, was 63.
In the capital, huge banners have gone up hailing the late president as 'the martyr of service', while others bade 'farewell to the servant of the disadvantaged'.
Tehran residents received phone messages urging them to 'attend the funeral of the martyr of service'.
From the university, the coffins will be driven to the huge Enghelab Square in the city centre and on to Azadi Square, state media said.
Funeral rites for Raisi and his entourage began on Tuesday with processions through Tabriz and the Shiite clerical centre of Qom drawing tens of thousands of black-clad mourners.
From Tehran, the bodies will be taken to Iran's second city of Mashhad, Raisi's hometown in the northeast, where he will be buried on Thursday evening after funeral rites at the Imam Reza shrine.
Also expected to attend services in Tehran were Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and a delegation from the Taliban of Afghanistan, including their Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mutaqqi.
Khamenei, who wields ultimate authority in Iran, has declared five days of national mourning, encouraging people to attend the public mourning sessions.
Typically, government employees and schoolchildren attend such events en masse, while others take part out of patriotism, curiosity or to witness historic events.
Raisi was elected president in 2021.
He succeeded the moderate Hassan Rouhani at a time when the economy was battered by US sanctions imposed over Iran's nuclear activities.
The ultra-conservative's time in office saw mass protests, a deepening economic crisis and unprecedented armed exchanges with arch-enemy Israel.
Vice president Mokhber, 68, has taken over as caretaker president until a June 28 election for Raisi's successor.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri, who was Amir-Abdollahian's deputy, has been named acting foreign minister.
The country's armed forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri has ordered an investigation into the cause of the helicopter crash.
After Raisi's death, global allies Russia and China sent their condolences, as did NATO, while the UN Security Council observed a minute's silence.
Messages of condolence also flooded in from Iran's allies around the region, including the Syrian government as well as Hamas and Hezbollah.
For Iran's Shiite theocracy, mass demonstrations have been crucial to demonstrating the legitimacy of their leadership since millions thronged the streets of Tehran to welcome Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979 during the Islamic Revolution, and also attended his funeral 10 years later.
An estimated 1 million turned out in 2020 for processions for the late Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was slain in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad.
In that ceremony, Khamenei openly wept over Soleimani's casket alongside Raisi.
On Wednesday, Khamenei appeared composed, though he later hugged family members of the dead on his way out.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei leads a funeral prayer for late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and other officials
A truck carrying the bodies of those killed in Sunday's helicopter crash is seen moving through Tehran as thousands of black-clad mourners throng the streets
Mourners hold posters of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during a funeral ceremony for him and his companions who were killed in a helicopter crash, in Tehran, on May 22, 2024
Thousnads of people are seen in a main square in Tehran today for the funeral of President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and others killed in the crash
Mourners attend the funeral for victims of helicopter crash that killed Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and others, in Tehran, Iran, May 22, 2024
Whether Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and others draw the same crowd remains in question, particularly as Raisi died in a helicopter crash, won his office in the lowest-turnout presidential election in the country's history and presided over sweeping crackdowns on all dissent.
Prosecutors already have warned people over showing any public signs of celebrating his death and a heavy security force presence has been seen on the streets of Tehran since the crash.
Raisi, 63, had been discussed as a possible successor for Iran's supreme leader, the 85-year-old Khamenei.
His death now throws that selection into question, particularly as there is no heir-apparent cleric for the presidency ahead of planned June 28 elections.
Despite the mass show of support in Tehran, among Iranian communities abroad, few years are being shed. But there are not always loud cheers, either.
While some hope the demise of a powerful figure in Iran's authoritarian Islamic government may bring change, others fear it could result in more repression.
'It's a better world without him,' said Maryam Namazie, a UK-based women's rights campaigner. 'He is one of the pillars of the Islamic regime of Iran.
'He has been there since its inception.'
But, she added: 'Raisi, however much of a pillar he was, is expendable. There are many others to take his place.'
Inside Iran, authorities are keeping a tight lid on reaction to the deadly crash.
Outside Iran, some expatriates felt bold enough to dance in the street. Nazenin Ansari, editor of Kayhan London, a news website for Iranians abroad that is critical of the country's theocracy, said that within hours of news of Raisi's death, Iranians gathered in cities across Europe and beyond to celebrate.
The Iranian diaspora is large, including those who fled soon after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and later waves who left because of continued repression or economic woes. More than half a million Iranians live in the US - many in California - and there are large communities in European cities, including London, Paris and Stockholm.
Dissidents have shared social media videos showing dozens of Iranians dancing and cheering in the streets of Toronto and Cologne, Germany, Ansari said.
'I understand their anger, I understand why they are celebrating,' she said.
'For me, I wish this guy stayed alive so he can be taken to an international court, to look in the eyes of his victims and reply to them. I'm sorry he won't be able to stand in a court of law and take responsibility for his actions.'
Raisi, 63, was reviled by opponents, and sanctioned by the U.S., for his role in mass executions of political prisoners at the end of Iran's long war with Iraq in the 1980s.
Many also hold Raisi responsible for the death of Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody in September 2022 after being detained for allegedly violating Iran's mandatory headscarf law.
Amini's death sparked mass protests against the country's ruling theocracy, and a security crackdown that saw more than 500 people killed and over 22,000 detained.
A UN fact-finding mission found Iranian authorities responsible for the 'physical violence' that led to Amini's death.
'Each member of this regime that goes is a victory for us,' said Guilda Torabi, spokesperson for the Homa association, an Iranian support group in France.
'It's a step forward, a little victory for the Iranian people. It's one step to vanquishing the regime. We are getting closer to the objective, which gives us hope.'
Even thousands of miles from Iran, some expatriates were unwilling to relax their reticence. Iranian critics of the government have been attacked overseas - including Pouria Zeraati, a newscaster with Farsi-language TV channel Iran International, who was stabbed in the leg near his London home in March.
The channel has been demonized for years by Iran's government, as well as other foreign-language Farsi broadcasters and their journalists.
Television in Iran is entirely state-controlled and run by hard-liners, often airing coerced confessions of prisoners.
In the Los Angeles area nicknamed 'Tehrangeles' - home to Persian cafes, ice cream parlors, grocery stores and rug shops - a husband and wife eating at the Pink Orchid bakery said that while they cheered the president's death, they were not optimistic it would bring major changes.
'Everyone knows someone worse is going to come,' said the wife, who grew up in Iran and left when she was 21.
The couple refused to give their names for fear of retaliation against family and friends who remain in Iran, as well as concerns about their own safety.
Poone, who only gave her first name for fear of retaliation against her family in Iran, said Raisi's death provided a measure of justice. She said the late president 'had a lot of blood on his hands.'
Others saw reason for hope.
As news of the crash circulated in Iran on Sunday night, anti-government chants could be heard in some areas of Tehran. Namazie said many Iranians shared dark jokes and social media memes.
Aliasghar Ramezanpoor, executive news director at Iran International, said many Iranians were contacting the station to express happiness at Raisi's death.
Iranians pass by a poster of Iran's late president Ebrahim Raisi two days after his death
Billboards pictured Raisi have spring up around Tehran
An Iranian woman passes by a poster of Iran's late president Ebrahim Raisi two days after his death at a religious-cultural production mall on May 21, 2024 in Tehran
Ramezanpoor said the Islamic Republic's authorities would likely be shaken by the realization that many Iranians saw the president's death as cause for celebration.
'People are talking about the crash as a kind of sign of hope,' he said. 'Everyone sees how losing a president (caused) national celebration - which sends a powerful message to everyone in the government.'
Namazie said political instability might bring more brutality as the government moved to repress dissent. But even so, 'any infighting opens up the space for people to be able to push back the regime, to weaken it.'
'It opens up the space for protest,' she said. 'That's what we need - from below, not any kind of regime change from above, not foreign intervention. People themselves will be able to challenge this regime and bring it to an end.'