Iranian state media reported on Monday that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the nation’s foreign minister, and other dignitaries had all been pronounced dead in a helicopter accident.
Following the news of Raisi’s passing, the Iranian government called an emergency conference, and Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader, then appointed First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber as acting president. In addition, Khamenei declared that the nation would observe five days of mourning.
Due of the continuing Israel-Hamas conflict, which is still causing high regional tensions, Iran lost two of its most important diplomatic figures in the crash.
Along with the deaths of East Azerbaijan province governor Hossein Amirabdollahian, foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and other government officials on board the helicopter, Raisi’s passing was reported by state-run media in Iran on Monday.
Although there was no apparent explanation given for the incident, state media posted pictures of what seemed to be the group’s chopper wreckage online. When they were returning from an event near Iran’s border with Azerbaijan, the chopper crashed in hazy weather in a mountainous region of northern Iran.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society’s head had earlier told IRNA that rescue and search crews had located Raisi’s helicopter.
Rescue crews conducted a thorough search for the helicopter.
According to IRNA, Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi announced on Sunday that the president’s helicopter had made a “hard landing” and that search and rescue efforts were in progress.
Two of the passengers on the airplane spoke with the rescue personnel, according to IRNA. IRNA further reported that the Iranian military had sent personnel to aid with the rescue operation, in addition to the twenty rescue teams—including drones and dogs—that had been dispatched to the scene.
