In a tragic development, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian have died in a helicopter crash. The news was confirmed on Monday by Vice President Mohsen Mansouri through a statement on social media and state television.
“Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, East Azarbaijan Province’s Governor Malek Rahmati, and Mehdi Mousavi, the head of Raisi’s guard team, were on board the crashed aircraft as well,” reported the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). The agency also noted that Mohammad Ali Al-e-Hashem, the Supreme Leader’s representative in the East Azerbaijan province, accompanied the 63-year-old President Raisi and other officials.
Earlier, a senior Iranian official, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, told Reuters, “President Raisi, the foreign minister, and all the passengers in the helicopter were killed in the crash.” Iran’s Mehr news agency also confirmed that “all passengers of the helicopter” were “martyred.”
The helicopter, carrying President Raisi and Iran’s foreign minister, crashed on Sunday while navigating through mountainous terrain amid heavy fog in the Varzaqan region of East Azerbaijan province. State media attributed the crash to bad weather, which also hampered rescue efforts in the northwestern region. IRNA reported that Raisi was flying in a US-made Bell 212 helicopter.
Pir-Hossein Kolivand, the head of Iran Red Crescent Society, in an interview with the semi-official Tasnim news agency, stated, “No trace of survivors has been seen after the discovery of the site of the crashed helicopter.” He added that rescue teams found the crash site after “hours of extensive search in a mountainous region” in East Azerbaijan province.
President Raisi, Foreign Minister Amirabdollahian, and other senior officials were returning to Iran after attending the inauguration ceremony of a dam on Iran’s border with the Republic of Azerbaijan when the helicopter crashed on Sunday afternoon.
In the wake of President Raisi’s death, the Islamic Republic’s First Vice-President Mohammad Mokhber is set to assume power, pending the Supreme Leader’s approval as outlined in Article 131 of Iran’s Constitution.
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