Iranian state media announced on Monday that President Ebrahim Raisi has died following a helicopter crash in a mountainous region of the country.
The government has yet to confirm the president’s death officially.
Rescue teams had been searching since Sunday afternoon after the helicopter carrying Raisi, the foreign minister, and other officials went missing.
Early Monday, relief workers located the helicopter, with state TV confirming Raisi’s death.
“The servant of the Iranian nation, Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi has achieved the highest level of martyrdom whilst serving the people,” state television reported, with Mehr news agency also confirming his death.
State television broadcast images of Raisi accompanied by the recitation of the Koran.
Iran’s vice president for executive affairs, Mohsen Mansouri, posted a Koranic verse on X (formerly Twitter) to express condolences.
Concerns had been growing for the 63-year-old ultraconservative president after contact was lost with the helicopter carrying him and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in East Azerbaijan province on Sunday.
According to Tasnim news agency, nine people were on board.
Iran’s Red Crescent chief, Pirhossein Koolivand, said rescue teams headed to the crash site upon locating the aircraft. “The helicopter has been found.
Now, we are moving toward the helicopter,” Koolivand stated.
“We are seeing the helicopter. The situation is not good.”
State TV reported about 15 hours after the helicopter went missing that “there was no sign of the helicopter passengers being alive.”
Media outlets, including the Fars news agency, shared drone images of the wreckage.
On Sunday afternoon, state TV first reported that “an accident happened to the helicopter carrying the president” in the Jolfa region of East Azerbaijan province.
Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi mentioned that the helicopter “made a hard landing” due to bad weather, urging the public to seek information solely from state television and not from foreign media.
Raisi’s convoy had included three helicopters, with the other two reaching their destination safely, according to Tasnim news agency.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reassured the public, saying, “There will be no disruption in the country’s work.”
Expressions of concern and offers of assistance came from various countries, including Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Russia, China, and Turkey, as well as the European Union, which activated its rapid response mapping service to aid in the search effort.
Following the incident, Iran’s cabinet held an emergency meeting led by Vice President Mohammad Mokhber.
The search involved the army, Revolutionary Guard, and police officers, with TV stations showing images of Red Crescent teams climbing a misty hill and emergency vehicles on standby.
Raisi had been in the northwestern province to inaugurate a dam project with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev. Aliyev expressed concern over the crash in a post on X.
The incident drew international attention amid high regional tensions due to the Gaza conflict between Israel and Hamas, which began in October 2023.
A US State Department spokesperson stated, “We are closely following reports of a possible hard landing of a helicopter in Iran carrying the Iranian president and foreign minister.”
An American official confirmed that US President Joe Biden had been briefed on the crash.
Raisi has served as president since 2021, succeeding moderate Hassan Rouhani during a time of economic hardship due to US sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program.
His presidency saw significant events, including protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini in custody and a surprise diplomatic agreement with Saudi Arabia in March 2023.
In his final speech at Sunday’s dam inauguration, Raisi reiterated Iran’s support for Palestinians, a core aspect of its foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
“We believe that Palestine is the first issue of the Muslim world,” Raisi declared.
Hamas expressed solidarity with Iran, stating, “In this painful incident, we express our full solidarity with the Islamic Republic of Iran, its leadership, government, and people.”
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