Iran President News Highlights: Vice-President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar pays tribute to Raisi

Saudi foreign minister arrived in Tehran to attend the funeral of Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led prayers for late president Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday as huge crowds thronged the capital Tehran for his funeral procession.

Flanked by top officials, Khamenei said prayers over the coffins of the eight dead from Sunday's helicopter crash, who also included foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

A sea of mourners filled the open space around Tehran university, where the prayers were held before the funeral procession moved on to Enghelab and Azadi squares.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar who is in Tehran, paid tribute to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday, who died in a chopper crash along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Amir-Abdollahian, and others. Dive Deeper

On May 19, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, foreign minister Hossein Abdollahian and two other top provincial officials were killed in a helicopter crash in the mountainous terrain of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, bordering Azerbaijan. Raisi was returning after inaugurating, along with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, the jointly constructed dam on the Aras River at the shared border. Raisi’s visit had marked the thawing of tensions with Baku, which had closed its embassy in Tehran in January 2023 after an armed assault by an Iranian man had left the head of the security service of the embassy dead. Read More

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday met Iran's acting President Mohammad Mokhber and conveyed condolences over the tragic demise of President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in a helicopter crash.

Dhankhar, who is leading the Indian delegation at the official funeral ceremony, paid tributes to Raisi, Amir-Abdollahian, and other Iranian officials who died in the crash.

A senior ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin attended commemorations in Tehran for the late President Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday and passed on a message of support for the Iranian leadership from the Kremlin chief.

Russia and Iran have developed close ties in recent years, pushing against what they see as pernicious U.S. foreign policy in an effort to establish what they say would be a fairer multipolar world order.

Raisi's death in a helicopter crash on Sunday appeared to shock Moscow, which quickly offered its condolences and support.

Russian lower house speaker Vyacheslav Volodin passed a message from President Vladimir Putin to Iran's leadership during a visit to Tehran on Wednesday, the lower house said.

Volodin, who attended the funeral of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, met interim president Mohammad Mokhber, it said.

Iran's supreme leader and representatives of militia groups he backs in the Middle East prayed Wednesday over the coffins of the country's late president, foreign minister and other officials killed in a helicopter crash earlier this week. Hundreds of thousands of people later followed a procession honoring the dead down Tehran's main boulevard.

Iran’s Shiite theocracy views mass demonstrations as crucial evidence of its legitimacy and the people's support.

The Iranian military said Wednesday that it had used domestically produced drones to locate the helicopter of president Ebrahim Raisi after it crashed in the northwestern mountains. Raisi's helicopter came down on a fog-shrouded mountainside on Sunday as it returned to the city of Tabriz from a ceremony on the border with Azerbaijan. A huge search and rescue operation was launched, involving help from the European Union, Russia and Turkey before the crash site was located early on Monday. Read More

Iran President News Live: Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani headed to Iran on Wednesday to attend the funeral of late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the Emiri Diwan said, reported news agency Reuters.

Kuwait's Foreign Minister Abdullah Ali al-Yahya also travelled to Tehran on Wednesday to participate in Raisi's funeral on behalf of the Kuwaiti Emir, the foreign ministry reported.

Iran President News Live: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh attended the prayers for late President of Iran on Wednesday morning, reported news agency AP.

Haniyeh recounted meeting Raisi earlier this year in Tehran during Ramadan, the holy Muslim fasting month, and heard the president say the Palestinian issue remains the key one for the Muslim world. He also described Raisi calling the October 7 attack in Israel an “earthquake in the heart of the Zionist entity.”

Iran President News Live: The deaths of Iran's President and foreign minister in a helicopter crash have caused a pause in the UN nuclear watchdog's talks with Tehran over improving cooperation with the agency, the watchdog's chief Rafael Grossi told Reuters on Wednesday.

"They are in a mourning period which I need to respect," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Grossi said in Helsinki, where he spoke at a nuclear conference.

"But once this is over, we are going to be engaging again," he said, describing it as a "temporary interruption that I hope will be over in a matter of days".

Grossi said the IAEA was planning to continue technical discussions with Iran but they had not yet taken place due to last weekend's helicopter crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian.

Iran President News Live: The official X account of Vice-President of India has shared, "Hon'ble Vice-President, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar was received by Iranian authorities on his arrival in Tehran today. VP Dhankhar will attend the official ceremony to pay condolences on the demise of President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister H. Amir-Abdollahian, of Iran."

Iran President News Live: Mohammad Mokhber has been named Iran’s interim president after Ebrahim Raisi’s death. He is the former first vice president of Iran.

Meanwhile, the elections to appoint the new President of Iran will be held on June 28, 2024.

Check out these news stories related to late Iran President

Iran President News Live: Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif will attend the memorial ceremony for Ebrahim Raisi, foreign minister Dr. Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other Iranian officials who lost their lives in a helicopter crash on May 19.

A memorial ceremony for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian was held at the Iran Culture House in the national capital.

The memorial ceremony was held on Tuesday in New Delhi.

The General Staff of Iran's Armed Forces on Wednesday downplayed the role played by a Turkish drone in finding the crash site of President Ebrahim Raisi's helicopter, highlighting instead the performance of its own drones.

"Despite Turkey sending a drone equipped with night vision and thermal cameras, the drone failed to accurately locate the crash site due to its lack of detection equipment and control points below the cloud," Iran's military said in a statement, referring to the adverse weather conditions believed to be the cause of the crash.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry headed on Wednesday to Tehran to participate in the funeral of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi who died in a helicopter crash on Sunday.

Iran President News Live: Iran's military said it had chosen Turkey among "friendly countries" to help in the rescue mission due to its proximity to the accident site in the northwest of the country.

Iran President News Live: The Iranian military said Wednesday that it had used domestically produced drones to locate the helicopter of president Ebrahim Raisi after it crashed in the northwestern mountains, reported news agency AFP.

Raisi's helicopter came down on a fog-shrouded mountainside on Sunday as it returned to the city of Tabriz from a ceremony on the border with Azerbaijan. A huge search and rescue operation was launched, involving help from the European Union, Russia and Turkey before the crash site was located early on Monday.

Check out these news stories related to the late Iran President

Iran President News Live: Huge crowds of Iranians thronged the streets of the capital Tehran on Wednesday for the funeral procession of president Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage, who died in a helicopter crash.

In the 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, reported news agency AFP.

Flanked by top officials, Khamenei said prayers over the coffins of the dead, who also included Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

Iran President News Live: Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the late president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, as a reliable partner always good to his word and asked the chairman of parliament on Tuesday to convey his sympathy at memorial events, reported news agency Reuters.

"He was truly a reliable partner, a man sure of himself, who acted in the national interest," Russian news agencies quoted Putin as telling Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the State Duma lower house of parliament.

"He was, of course, a man of his word and it was always good to work with him. What I mean is if we came to an agreement on something, you could be sure the agreement was carried out," Putin said.

Iran President News Live: Iran's supreme leader presided over a funeral Wednesday for the country's late president, foreign minister and others killed in a helicopter crash. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei began the service at Tehran University, the caskets of the dead draped in Iranian flags with their pictures on them. On the late President Ebrahim Raisi's coffin sat a black turban — signifying his direct descendance from Islam's Prophet Muhammad, reported news agency AP.

In attendance were top leaders of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, one of the country's major centers. Also on hand was Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, the militant group that Iran has armed and supported during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war raging in the Gaza Strip. Before the funeral, an emcee led the crowd in the chant: “Death to Israel!”

“I come in the name of the Palestinian people, in the name of the resistance factions of Gaza ... to express our condolences,” Haniyeh told those gathered.