The caskets of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and others killed in a May 19 helicopter crash arrived in a procession with an honor guard in Tehran on May 21 ahead of a planned journey to the holy city of Qom, where additional services were scheduled for later in the day as part of a five-day mourning period declared by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Several funeral ceremonies were taking place in Iran on May 21 to mark the deaths of Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and others in the helicopter crash that occurred in northern Iran near the city of Tabriz, the capital of Iran's northwestern province of East Azerbaijan.
Following their journey to Qom, the caskets are to return late on May 21 to Tehran, where a funeral service is scheduled for May 22 presided over by Khamenei and with a procession set to follow. Ceremonies are also being held in Birjand on May 23, when Raisi will be buried at the Imam Reza Shrine in the holy city of Mashhad, Iranian media reported.
The IRNA state-run news agency posted the first footage purportedly showing the caskets of Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian on X, formerly Twitter.
State television later showed large crowds gathering in Qom ahead of services there.
Khamenei also named First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber as interim president. Iranian law stipulates that if the president dies, power is transferred to the first vice president.
A presidential election to determine Raisi's successor was announced for June 28. The election, which has to be held within 50 days, is to be organized by a council consisting of the speaker of parliament, the head of the judiciary, and the first vice president.
Iran's interim president, Mohammad Mokhber (right), leads a cabinet meeting in Tehran on May 20.
Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Baqeri Kani was appointed acting foreign minister, Iranian state media reported.
After Iranian state television said on May 20 that the helicopter had crashed due to poor weather conditions, search-and-rescue teams found the bodies of Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian at the site of the crash in northwest Iran.
Communication was lost while the helicopter was on its way back to Tabriz after Raisi attended the joint inauguration of a dam with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, on their common border.
On May 21, an official on another helicopter disclosed additional details of events on the day of the crash, according to a report by dpa.
Gholam Hossein Esmaili, the presidential chief of staff, told state television that upon the helicopters' departure, "the weather was cloudless, completely clear, and bright."
But he said clouds quickly emerged and that the pilot of the presidential helicopter -- flying in the center of the three-aircraft convoy -- ordered the copters to fly at a higher altitude.
Shortly afterward, the pilot of the helicopter Esmaili was traveling in realized that the Raisi craft was no longer with the others and was thought to have made an emergency landing.
The two other helicopters in the convoy circled for several minutes over the area before landing near a copper mine because of the poor conditions.
The Iranian government said the other two helicopters eventually landed safely in Tabriz.
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency said that all eight people aboard the Bell 212 helicopter purchased by Iran in the early 2000s were killed. Besides Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian, the governor of East Azerbaijan Province, a senior cleric from Tabriz, a Revolutionary Guards official, and three crew members were killed, according to IRNA.
The bodies from the helicopter that crashed were severely burned but not beyond recognition, according to the head of Iran's Crisis Management Organization, Mohammad Hassan Nami. He said DNA tests were not needed to confirm the identities of those killed in the crash.
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Iran At Crossroads After President Killed In Helicopter Crash
He added that Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Al-e Hashem, who served as Khamenei's representative in East Azerbaijan Province, survived the crash initially and remained alive for about an hour before he died.
Nami said that, during that time, Al-e Hashem had made contact with Raisi's chief of staff by phone. He did not reveal any further details.
Meanwhile, Washington said for the first time that Tehran had asked for U.S. help in the helicopter incident but that it was unable to provide assistance, mainly due to logistical reasons.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller did not specify how the request was made or the nature of it. The United States and Iran do not have diplomatic relations.
Foreign governments on May 20 issued expressions of condolence and solidarity. Lebanon announced three days of mourning to honor Raisi. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian were both "true, reliable friends of our country."
Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, issued a statement of condolence and thanked Raisi for his "tireless efforts in solidarity" with the Palestinian people.
SEE ALSO: Will Raisi's Death Bring Major Changes To Iran's Policies? The Short Answer Is 'No.'The United States -- a bitter rival of Iran that had imposed financial sanctions on Raisi when he was head of Iran's judiciary in 2019 -- also offered its condolences.
"The United States expresses its official condolences for the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian, and other members of their delegation in a helicopter crash in northwest Iran," the State Department said in a statement.
"As Iran selects a new president, we reaffirm our support for the Iranian people and their struggle for human rights and fundamental freedoms."
The White House, nevertheless, had harsh words for Raisi, saying he had "blood on his hands" for supporting extremist groups in the Middle East.
U.S. national-security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that "no question, this was a man who had a lot of blood on his hands."
U.S. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said Raisi's rule was "barbaric" and marked by "terror, danger, and oppression."
"In these fateful days, we pray for stability in the Middle East, for Iranian leaders who will seek to live at peace with their neighbors and the West, and for the day when the flag of freedom will be raised in Iran," Johnsonwrote on X.
European Council President Charles Michel issued a statement of "sincere condolences," adding "our thoughts go to the families."
SEE ALSO: Iranian President Raisi's Death Sets Off Scramble To Find His ReplacementSome activists criticized the EU for assisting in the rescue operation of a leader who has been accused of overseeing major human rights abuses.
But EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic defended the move on May 20, saying that, by providing satellite mapping services to Tehran, Brussels was acting "upon request for facilitating a search and rescue operation" and was not "an act of political support to any regime or establishment."
"It is simply an expression of the most basic humanity," he added in a post on X.
Raisi was elected president in 2021 and had since tightened many restrictions on Iranians through the enforcement of morality laws and a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests spurred by the death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody for allegedly violating the Islamic dress code on head scarves.
Thousands of people, including protesters, journalists, lawyers, athletes, and artists have been arrested and at least 500 people have been killed in Iran's brutal crackdown on the protests.
Raisi also pushed hard in nuclear talks with world powers while also allowing the country to markedly increase its uranium enrichment program.