Iran’s supreme leader prays for late president and others killed in helicopter crash

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s supreme leader prayed Wednesday over the coffins of the country’s late president, foreign minister and other officials who were killed in a helicopter crash earlier this week. Later, hundreds of thousands of people 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.

Still, Wednesday’s funeral service for President Ebrahim Raisi and others saw a turnout that onlookers described as noticeably lower than the 2020 procession honoring Revolutionary Guard general Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad.

Many of the participants said they came to Tehran for the ceremony from other cities and towns across the Islamic Republic, an indication of how those in Iran’s capital viewed Raisi, who won the presidency in a record low turnout and later oversaw repeated crackdowns on all d...