Large crowds have gathered in the Iranian capital Tehran for the main funeral ceremony of the country’s late president Ebrahim Raisi.
Raisi died along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six others in a helicopter crash near the border with Azerbaijan.
The ceremony will begin with Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameneileading prayers in the capital before coffins draped with the Iranian flag will be brought to the city’s main Azadi Square.
Authorities have warned of demonstrations against the funeral procession and insults posted online.
Large banners have been hoisted across the capital praising Mr Raisi as “the martyr of service”, while others say “farewell to the servant of the underprivileged”.
Some Tehran residents received text messages urging them to attend Wednesday’s ceremonies, AFP news agency reported.
Images from state television showed streets full of mourners, many of whom carried photos of Mr. Raisi or the Iranian flag.
A handful of foreign dignitaries are expected to attend the proceedings.
Funeral rites for the men began on Tuesday in the city of Tabriz and the Shiite spiritual center of Qom, where thousands of black-clad mourners attended the ceremonies.
After Wednesday’s procession in the capital, Mr Raisi’s remains will be moved to South Khorasan province before being transferred to his hometown of Mashhad in the northeast.
He will be buried in the city on Thursday evening after funeral rites at the Imam Reza shrine.
Five days of national mourning have been declared in the country.
Mr. Raisi was a deeply divisive figure in Iran. In the 1980s, as a prosecutor, he oversaw the executions of dozens of opposition activists.
And he unleashed a brutal crackdown on protesters angry over the killing of Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old died three days after she was arrested by morality police in the capital for allegedly violating Iran’s strict rules requiring women to cover their hair with a hijab or headscarf.
But his ultra-conservative views won the favor of regime supporters, and Raisi was seen as a possible successor to Ayatollah Khamenei.
