'Honest, sincere': Iraqi PM condoles with Leader over Raeisi martyrdom

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has received Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani on the sidelines of the funeral procession of martyred President Ebrahim Raeisi and his associates in the capital Tehran.

The meeting took place on Wednesday as millions-strong procession for the late president was underway.

Sudani offered Iraq’s condolences to the Iranian leadership, government and nation over the tragic loss.

“What we saw in Mr. Raeisi, the martyred president of Iran, was nothing but honesty, sincerity, purity, work and ... serving the people,” the top Iraqi official said.

“The images I saw on TV today bore clear messages,” Sudani added. “The most important message is the deep, strong relationship between people and authorities in the Islamic Republic despite all the pressure, sanctions and this unfortunate incident.”

The Iraqi prime minister underlined, “Another message of the presence of millions of people in the funeral ceremony is that [officials] should serve the people and this massive funeral is the result of serving the people and this lesson should be the top-line policy in Iraq as well.”

In the meeting, Ayatollah Khamenei appreciated Sudani for his visit to Tehran and his expression of sympathy, saying, “We have lost an outstanding figure. President Raeisi was a great brother and an efficient, competent, sincere and serious official."

The Leader said that Iran’s interim president Mohammad Mokhber, who has assumed duties in managing the executive branch, will continue the same path of cooperation and agreements with the Iraqi government.

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• Ayatollah Khamenei leads prayers as mourners gather for Raeisi funeral

Earlier in the day, Ayatollah Khamenei led prayers over the bodies of President Raeisi and his companions in Tehran as millions gathered ahead of the funeral service for the martyred who lost their lives in a tragic helicopter crash in the northwestern province of East Azarbaijan on Sunday.

World leaders, presidents, ambassadors and international personalities as well as high-profile figures of the Axis of Resistance, including Ismail Haniyeh, the chief of the political bureau of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, and Sheikh Naim Qassem, deputy secretary general of Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance movement, attended the ceremony.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution also received the Hamas chief and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the sidelines of the ongoing mass funeral.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry was also reported to have headed to Tehran to participate in the ceremony, the first visit by a top Egyptian official to Iran in decades.

On Sunday, the helicopter carrying Raeisi and his entourage crashed as it was on its way to Tabriz, the capital of Iran’s East Azarbaijan province, from a location on the border with the Republic of Azerbaijan where the Iranian president had opened a major dam project.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and two senior provincial officials along with crew members and bodyguard also died in the crash.

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