Tabriz

Funeral observances for Mr. Raisi and the others began on Tuesday with a procession in Tabriz, the closest large city to the crash site in northwestern Iran.

One of the passengers on Mr. Raisi’s helicopter, a local prayer leader from Tabriz, eventually answered a phone and said that the helicopter had crashed.

A procession Tuesday morning led by a semitruck carrying the caskets of the dead slowly moved through the narrow streets of downtown Tabriz, the closest major city near the site of the crash Sunday.

The area is about fifty kilometres to the north of Tabriz, the capital of the Easter Azerbaijan province, near the town of Varzeqan.

American officials speak of a missile strike, but Iranian officials say the attacks, in the central province of Isfahan and in northwest Tabriz, were caused by small exploding drones.