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Iranian President Raisi's helicopter crash

Iranian President’s funeral will be held in Mashhad on May 23 — Vice President

The Mausoleum of Imam Reza is located in Mashhad, the hometown of Raisi, a center of pilgrimage and one of the main shrines of the Shiites

DUBAI, May 20. /TASS/. The funeral of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will be held on May 23 in the Iranian city of Mashhad in the northeast of the country, Vice-President of the Republic, Mohsen Mansouri, announced.

"Ayatollah Raisi’s funeral ceremony will take place on Thursday evening at the mausoleum of Imam Reza," he said on IRIB TV. The Mausoleum of Imam Reza is located in Mashhad, the hometown of Raisi, a center of pilgrimage and one of the main shrines of the Shiites.

Mansouri was appointed head of the committee for organizing the funeral of those killed in the crash of the presidential helicopter.

As Mansouri noted, the bodies of the crash victims will be sent to Tehran and on Tuesday evening "a farewell ceremony for the martyrs will take place in the Tehran mosque." In Iran, all innocent people killed and those who died for a just cause, including in war and disasters, are considered martyrs. The funerals of the politicians accompanying Raisi will be held separately in the city of Qom near Tehran, in the Iranian capital itself, in Tabriz and in one of the cities of the South Khorasan province.

On May 19, a helicopter carrying the Iranian president crashed in Iran's Eastern Azerbaijan Province. Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, East Azerbaijan Province Governor Malek Rahmati and Tabriz Imam Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem were also on board the helicopter. Iranian Red Crescent Society head Pir Hossein Kolivand said that all passengers and crew of the helicopter were killed in the crash. A commission has been created to investigate the causes of the disaster. First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber became the acting President of Iran. Early presidential elections are scheduled for June 28.

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