Qom

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.

Ayatollah Khamenei is expected to lead prayers at the funeral service - After Tabriz, Raisi's body will be taken to the holy city of Qom and will end up in Tehran

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi was confirmed dead on Monday after search and rescue teams found his crashed helicopter in a fog-shrouded mountain region, sparking mourning in the Islamic republic.

Israeli media report that high-ranking officials in their country have pointed to the Quds Force, one of five branches of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), specializing in unconventional warfare and military intelligence, is behind the foiled plot to bomb a Jewish restaurant and an attached cultural and religious center in Athens.

Bomb-carrying drones targeted an Iranian defense factory in the central city of Isfahan overnight, authorities said early Sunday, causing some damage at the plant amid heightened regional and international tensions engulfing the Islamic Republic.

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.

A Turkish Airlines plane flying from Iran to Istanbul was diverted to Ankara on Feb. 25 at the Turkish Health Ministry's request, according to local media reports.

The plane, carrying 132 passengers, was flying from Tehran to Istanbul.

The plane has landed at Ankara's Esenboğa Airport.

Turkey has announced that it suspended railway services over its Iranian border due to the number of coronavirus cases in its eastern neighbor.

Turkish State Railways (TCDD) said in a written statement that passenger and freights trains between Turkey and Iran has been temporarily halted, starting from 5:00 p.m. local time (1400GMT) on Feb. 23.

Turkey has started to screen travelers arriving from Iran at border gates and is refusing entry to anyone with signs of illness after four people died from the new virus that emerged in China, along with 750 suspected cases.