Iran buries Raisi in his hometown
The Iranian city of Mashhad, the hometown of the Persian country's President Ebrahim Raisi, will witness on Thursday the funeral and burial of the leader, who died on Sunday in a helicopter crash. teleSUR
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00:00 Welcome back to Tell Us Your English and join us again as we go live to Iran where citizens
00:09 are bidding farewell in Mashhad to President Ebrahim Raisi.
00:13 Let's see.
00:17 We continue to witness as the funerals continue in Iran after the tragic accident that happened
00:27 last Sunday.
00:30 Thousands of Iranians across the country have gathered, have taken to the streets in the
00:35 country in different cities to bid farewell to their leaders who, let's recall, suffered
00:44 a tragic accident, a helicopter accident late on Sunday.
00:51 As the whole world followed the development of the accident, let's recall that the first
00:59 news that we heard had to do with the missing helicopter that then went on to search and
01:08 rescue operations until the tragic development was known in the first hours of Monday.
01:18 In this case, we are looking at live images in Mashhad where once again Iranians have
01:27 gathered to pay homage to President Raisi.
01:33 A huge crowd of citizens, we can see in the images, have taken to the streets in the holy
01:40 city of Mashhad.
01:42 This is in the northeast of the country to attend the funeral procession, to attend the
01:52 event held for President Ebrahim Raisi, who again, we recall, passed away last Sunday
02:02 after a tragic helicopter accident when he was returning with a committee with other
02:12 officials, among those who were also Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollah.
02:18 They were returning from the East Azerbaijan province after having attended a very significant
02:27 event with the Azerbaijani leader as well, in the border with Azerbaijan.
02:35 And then the accident, the helicopter accident that took the lives of the President, the
02:42 Foreign Minister and also other officials took place.
02:46 So now we are looking at images in Mashhad where Iranians have gathered.
02:55 And again, let's recall that since Monday, funeral events have been being held even before.
03:08 Iranians had already taken to the streets even before the tragic news, the tragic development
03:13 of the accident was known.
03:18 Iranians had already taken to the streets, praying for the lives of their leaders.
03:25 And as soon as the helicopter was found and the development was finally communicated,
03:39 then all of those who had taken to the streets were joined by many more.
03:42 And that is how Iran has been paying homage to its martyr leaders since Monday, and will
03:53 continue to do so.
03:56 The live images that we're looking at right now are from Mashhad in the northeast of the
04:02 country.
04:06 And during previous days, millions have participated in very big processions, funeral processions
04:15 for the President, also for the lives of those who were with him at the time.
04:24 Let's recall that there were no survivors from the helicopter that was transporting
04:32 both President Ebrahim Raisi, also Foreign Minister Abdullah, among other leaders.
04:46 So for them, big processions, funeral processions took place where millions attended throughout
04:54 the country.
04:57 Some of the most important ones took place in the city of Tabriz, in Qom, also, of course,
05:04 in the capital, Tehran.
05:12 Also this Thursday, those grieving, the citizens took to the streets in the city of Biryand
05:22 to the east.
05:24 So this is really a whole country that is accompanying the final steps of their leaders'
05:32 remains and showing signs of love, of devotion.
05:40 Of course, being Iran a very religious country as it is, they've also accompanied this whole
05:51 procession with prayers.
05:55 And that is what we are witnessing right now.
06:02 We are looking at live images from Mashhad in Iran, where the citizens in Iran are paying
06:15 their last tributes, their last tributes to President Ebrahim Raisi.
06:21 Let's recall that the president, along with foreign minister and also other officials,
06:28 were found deceased after a helicopter crash.
06:31 This happened on Sunday, last Sunday.
06:34 And since that moment on, Iran has been paying homage to these leaders.
06:39 They have been holding different funeral processions.
06:44 Thousands, millions really have taken to the streets to accompany their leaders.
06:49 And we continue looking at images from Iran right now.
07:05 Just recall that what we're looking at are images from Mashhad, where the martyred body
07:14 of President Ebrahim Raisi has been transported.
07:24 This being after many funeral celebrations have been taking place.
07:32 We were saying before in Tehran, in Tabriz, where millions have taken to the street to
07:38 accompany these processions.
07:44 And after these funerals, the remains of President Raisi will be kept in the same mausoleum as
07:56 Imam Reza.
08:03 Let's recall that since Monday, the leader of the Islamic revolution in Iran, the Ayatollah
08:10 Sayyed Ali Khamenei, declared five days of national grieving for the passing of the president
08:20 and also of his comrades that passed along with him.
08:30 Let's recall that Iran has also received the support of many parts of the country.
08:39 Of course, official delegations, presidents, heads of state have first and immediately
08:49 issued their official statements accompanying the nation.
08:53 Before the news were known late on Monday, early hours in the morning local time, even
09:03 before the news about their passing were made known, officials and delegations from all
09:11 over the world had already contributed and offered their help in search and rescue operations.
09:25 And after the news were made official, all of these delegations came together with their
09:32 statements to join Iran in their grieving.
09:37 Many delegations have also traveled to Iran during the past days to participate in the
09:44 processions, to participate in the funerals, to pay homage to what was a relevant, very
09:53 relevant leader in the Arab world and also in the global South.
10:02 And now we're looking at images from Mashhad where the remains of President Raisi will
10:17 be laid.
10:25 So we're looking at images of the holy city as citizens continue to pray.
10:45 So let's recall that we are looking at images from Iran as the country has also been joined
10:56 by several international figures and delegations that participated in the funerals and the
11:04 processions mainly in Tehran, the capital of the country.
11:17 This is one of the last and most important events to take place as the citizens gather
11:28 to pay homage to President Raisi.
11:36 As we continue to understand and also join with new information that the relevance of
11:45 the event that truly rocked not only the Arab world but also the world as a whole and especially
11:53 the global South had to do with the relevance that this leader had, especially in the last
12:05 years.
12:06 Let's recall that President Raisi made a very significant and important tour around some
12:13 Latin American and Caribbean countries just last year in 2023 where he worked the whole
12:23 delegation and especially the figure of President Ibrahim Raisi.
12:29 He worked towards the strengthening of bilateral relations, understanding that cooperation
12:36 between countries in the global South is key to tackle the challenges in the current world.
12:54 And that was a very important stepping stone towards the continuous strengthening of relations.
13:02 We had just seen in previous submissions that Venezuelan Foreign Minister Ivan Geel traveled
13:09 to Iran to participate in the homages paid to the deceased leaders, particularly Ibrahim
13:17 Raisi and also who was his counterpart, Amir Abdullah.
13:26 And again in this context he spoke specifically on that, on the way that Iran and Venezuela
13:33 particularly but also different countries in South America and the Caribbean had strengthened
13:41 ties really in a way of counteracting unilateral measures imposed, for example, by the United
13:53 States, let's recall that Iran is one of the most affected countries in terms of how sanctions
14:04 have shaped the current geopolitical scene.
14:12 And so its action in terms of building bridges with other countries in the global South was
14:20 key to draw an alternative for the coming years.
14:29 Also one of the issues that was very relevant and was even also present in the different
14:39 demonstrations and the different tributes paid to President Ibrahim Raisi and his comrades
14:47 since his passing was a relentless support of the Palestinian cause.
14:58 Let's recall that as a major participant in the region, Iran was a strong defendant of
15:10 the Palestinian cause against the Israeli aggression that the Taliban regime has been
15:16 carrying on into Gaza.
15:25 Even taking to the point of direct confrontation just a few weeks ago, Raisi along with his
15:36 committee along with his foreign minister played an important role in the defense of
15:43 the Palestinian people, both in the region and in front of the world.
15:50 So it makes sense that his people coming out to the streets to bid farewell have also done
15:58 so with Palestinian flags and Palestinian chants as a way of continuing that struggle
16:13 that's really a struggle of most of the Arab world.
16:18 So let's listen to the celebrations taking place in Mashhad.
16:48 As we're looking at live images from Mashhad, let's recall that also internet users around
16:54 the world have taken to social media platforms to express their reactions, to express their
17:04 support to the people of Iran and to the deceased leaders.
17:09 Let's recall that Raisi and his entourage, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdelallah,
17:16 fell martyrs on Sunday after the helicopter that was carrying them to Tabriz crashed.
17:25 This was confirmed after numerous hours where search and rescue operations took place.
17:36 We're also joined by partner countries that contributed with all their technical support
17:46 and were also followed by citizens and people all over the world who were following the
17:54 events minute to minute until finally the tragic news were made known that the helicopter
18:06 was found but no survivors had been found on site.
18:25 We were looking at live images from Mashhad in Iran as citizens continue to pay tribute
18:31 to President Ebrahim Raisi, so we will have more information on this coming up.
18:36 Stay with us.
18:36 (upbeat music)