News - Middle East: Thousands of people in Iran’s South Khorasan Province have gathered to bid farewell to President Ebrahim Raeisi and two of his companions who embraced martyrdom in a tragic helicopter crash in the country’s northwestern province of East Azarbaijan.

The coffins of Raeisi and his associates were warmly welcomed by tearful eyes and black-clad mourners in the provincial capital of Birjand on Thursday morning.
The martyred president was elected as the representative of South Khorasan Province in the Assembly of Experts elections in March.
The 88-member body with an eight-year mandate is in charge of overseeing the activities of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution and is in a position of authority to either appoint or dismiss the Leader.