In a significant move, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s President, Massoud Pezeshkian, has officially registered late President Ebrahim Raisi’s date of death as Martyrs of Service Day in the national calendar, Press TV reported.
The decision took place through a bill passed in the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution honouring Raisi, foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, and other government officials who lost their lives in the helicopter crash near the city of Julfa, located on the border with Azerbaijan on May 19, 2024.
Martyrship is considered a noble and heroic concept in Iranian culture. This commemoration ensures that Raisi and his colleagues are remembered as public servants who lost their lives while performing their national duties.
The 63-year-old Raisi has long been seen as a potential successor to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In 2016, Khamenei appointed him as the head of the Astan Quds Razavi Foundation, a large-scale religious endowment institution in Mashhad, Iran.
Raeisi was outspoken against the Israeli genocidal war in Gaza, particularly after October 7, 2023.
