Mashhad

Iranian state television today featured a man who appeared to be the high-ranking commander of Iran’s Quds Force, Ismail Qaani, in a ceremony for a Revolutionary Guards of Iran commander killed in Lebanon.

Ismail Qaani first became known to the wider Western public in 2020 when he was chosen to replace Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by an American drone outside Baghdad Airport.

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi was laid to rest on Thursday, concluding days of funeral rites attended by throngs of mourners after his death in a helicopter crash, state media reported.

Hundreds of thousands marched in his home town Mashhad to bid farewell to Raisi ahead of his burial following processions in the cities of Tabriz, Qom, Tehran and Birjand.

Thousands marched in Iran on Thursday on the final day of funeral rites for president Ebrahim Raisi, who will be laid to rest in his hometown days after dying in a helicopter crash.

Raisi, 63, died on Sunday alongside his foreign minister and six others when their helicopter crashed in the country's mountainous northwest while returning from a dam inauguration.

The announcement was made at the mosque of Imam Reza in the city of Mashhad

Venice hosted an unprecedented collaboration between Israeli and Iranian filmmakers, who say there are similarities between their governments and hope they can set an example for greater unity between their people.

At least 10 people were killed in central Iran on Wednesday as a train derailed near Tabas on the line between the cities of Mashhad and Yazd, state media reported.

"Ten people were killed and a number of others injured in the incident," national rescue service spokesman Mojtaba Khaledi was quoted as saying by state television.

Mehmet Ferhan Yorulmaz, Turkey's consul general in St. Petersburg, Russia, has passed away, the country's foreign minister announced on July 5.

No coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Turkey so far, the nation's health minister said on March 9. 

Addressing reporters in the capital Ankara after a meeting of the council addressing the coronavirus threat, Fahrettin Koca said the Health Ministry and the rest of the government have taken all measures to prevent coronavirus from entering Turkey.

Turkey has yet to see any confirmed case of the coronavirus, but that does not mean there will never be any, said the country's top health official on Feb. 26, a day after a plane carrying 132 Turkish passengers flying from Tehran landed in Ankara, all of whom are being kept under quarantine.