On this photograph offered by Moj Information Company, rescue groups are seen on Sunday close to the location of the incident of the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Varzaghan in northwestern Iran. (Azin Haghighi/AP)
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the nation’s overseas minister and different officers had 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 appearing 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 continuing Israel-Hamas conflict.
Iranian state-run media introduced Raisi’s demise in a publish on Monday, together with the deaths of Overseas Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and different authorities officers who had been aboard the helicopter.
No rapid 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.
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.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is proven putting his arms on his coronary heart as a gesture of respect to the gang throughout the funeral ceremony of the victims of a bomb explosion within the metropolis of Kerman, Iran, on Jan. 5, 2024. (Vahid Salemi/AP)
Rescue groups searched intensely for the helicopter
Earlier, IRNA reported that the president of the Iranian Crimson 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 had been underway, based on 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 realm. Earlier within the day, the Iranian authorities’s X account posted a picture 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 cope with 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 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.
