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

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the nation’s overseas 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 demise 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 demise in a submit 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 instant trigger for the crash was offered, however state media launched pictures on-line exhibiting what it known 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.

Instant worldwide response got here from Iran’s neighbors. Pakistan’s authorities introduced it could 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 Purple Crescent Society confirmed that rescue and search groups had recognized Raisi’s helicopter.

On Sunday, Iran’s Inside Minister, Ahmad Vahidi, mentioned a “laborious 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 staff. Twenty rescue groups, together with drones and canine, had been despatched to the scene, and the Iranian army 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 decide, 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 determination to tug 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 duty. Israel mentioned it and its allies intercepted 99% of the missiles and drones Iran fired throughout its retaliatory strike.

Iran’s president is the top 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 likewise controls the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and police pressure, based on the Council on Overseas Relations.

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