Iran’s president has died in a helicopter crash, state media reports

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the nation’s international minister and different officers have been declared lifeless from a helicopter crash, Iranian state media mentioned on Monday.

The Iranian authorities held an emergency assembly following the announcement of Raisi’s loss of life and afterward Iran’s supreme chief, Ali Khamenei, named First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber as performing president. Khamenei additionally introduced 5 days of mourning would happen within the nation.

The crash left Iran with out two of its most pivotal diplomatic figures as regional tensions stay excessive from the continued Israel-Hamas warfare.

Iranian state-run media introduced Raisi’s loss of life in a put up on Monday, together with the deaths of Overseas Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and different authorities officers who have been aboard the helicopter.

No rapid trigger for the crash was supplied, however state media launched photos on-line exhibiting what it referred to as was the wreckage from the helicopter the group was touring in. The helicopter crashed in foggy circumstances in a mountainous space in northern Iran as they returned from an occasion alongside Iran’s border with Azerbaijan.

Fast worldwide response got here from Iran’s neighbors. Pakistan’s authorities introduced it might observe a day of mourning over the information. In Russia, President Vladimir Putin despatched his condolences to Khamenei, Russian state media reported.

Rescue groups searched intensely for the helicopter

Earlier, IRNA reported that the president of the Iranian Pink Crescent Society confirmed that rescue and search groups had recognized Raisi’s helicopter.

On Sunday, Iran’s Inside Minister, Ahmad Vahidi, mentioned a “onerous touchdown” of the president’s helicopter and mentioned the search-and-rescue operation have been underway, according to IRNA.

IRNA reported that two passengers on the flight had communicated with rescue employees. Twenty rescue groups, together with drones and canine, had been despatched to the scene, and the Iranian navy had additionally deployed troops to help within the rescue effort, IRNA added.

The Fars Information Company posted what it mentioned was video footage of rescue groups that had been dispatched to the world. Earlier within the day, the Iranian authorities’s X account posted an image of Raisi seated subsequent to Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, on the opening of a dam alongside the border between the 2 international locations.

Raisi was elected in 2021 and is a relative hard-liner

A former cleric and choose, Raisi was elected president in 2021.

When he got here into workplace, Raisi mentioned Iran would proceed to honor its nuclear take care of the U.S., regardless of then-President Donald Trump’s choice to drag out of the settlement in 2018.

Nonetheless, Raisi has been considered as extra of a hard-liner than his predecessor, former Iranian president Hassan Rouhani.

Final month, Raisi celebrated Iran’s assault on Israel following an airstrike in Damascus that killed seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iran blamed Israel for the bombing, however Israel by no means claimed accountability. Israel mentioned it and its allies intercepted 99% of the missiles and drones Iran fired throughout its retaliatory strike.

Iran’s president is the pinnacle of its authorities, however the nation is dominated by Khamenei, its supreme chief.

Iran’s supreme chief units nationwide insurance policies and supervises their implementation and in addition controls the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and police power, based on the Council on Overseas Relations.

Iran’s structure dictates that if the president dies whereas in workplace, the primary vice chairman takes over with the approval of the nation’s supreme chief, Reuters reported. A brand new election should then be held inside 50 days.