…….as leader appoints 1st VP acting president
Memorial ceremonies for President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian are planned in Iran for Tuesday.
Raisi, Amirabdollahian and seven senior Iranian officials died in a helicopter crash on Sunday.
Local media reported that a ceremony is being planned in the provincial capital of Tabriz in the morning, followed by a ceremony in the religious stronghold and pilgrimage city of Qom.
The date for the funerals of the two statesmen has not yet been announced.
Raisi is to be buried in his hometown of Mashhad.
The helicopter crashed in dense fog on the mountains over East Azerbaijan Province while the deceased were travelling back from a meeting with the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev
Raisi was, on Sunday, killed in the crash along with the country’s Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahian and some other senior Iranian officials in the northwestern province of East Azarbaijan.
Khamenei made the appointment known in a condolence message on the death of Raisi and the others.
The leader described Raisi as a popular, capable, hard working and indefatigable President, expressing sadness at the “bitter news of his martyrdom”.
Khamenei said that, according to Article 131 of Iran’s Constitution, the first vice president would be appointed at the helm of the executive arm.
He said that the first vice president was duty-bound to, in cooperation with the parliament speaker and the judiciary chief, make arrangements for election of a new president within 50 days
