IEA officials attend Raisi’s funeral

KABUL (Ariana News): High-ranking Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) officials including the deputy prime minister, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar Akhund, and foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, attended the late Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi’s funeral in Tehran on Wednesday.

During his visit, the deputy prime minister will meet with Iranian government officials and the family of the late president in order to extend condolences on behalf of the Afghan people, Baradar’s office said in a statement.

According to the statement, Muttaqi accompanied Baradar.

Iran’s supreme leader presided over a funeral Wednesday for the country’s late president, foreign minister and others killed in Sunday’s helicopter crash.

Tens of thousands of people later followed a procession of their caskets through the capital, Tehran.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei held the service at Tehran University, the caskets of the dead draped in Iranian flags with their pictures on them. In attendance were top leaders of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, one of the country’s major power centers, Associated Press reported.

Also on hand was Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas.

Also expected to attend services in Tehran were Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani along with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Even Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry traveled to Tehran, despite diplomatic relations between the countries being severed after the 1979 revolution.

Egypt and Iran have recently discussed reestablishing ties.

Raisi, 63, had been discussed as a possible successor for Iran’s supreme leader, the 85-year-old Khamenei. The only other person suggested was Khamenei’s 55-year-old son, Mojtaba.

However, concerns have been raised over the position going to a family member, particularly after the revolution overthrew the hereditary Pahlavi monarchy of the shah.