A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian crashed on Sunday while traversing mountainous terrain in dense fog, an Iranian official speaking anonymously said. The incident occurred while they were returning from a visit to the Azerbaijan border.
“President Raisi, the foreign minister and all the passengers in the helicopter were killed in the crash,” a senior Iranian official told Reuters, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Raisi’s death was later confirmed in a statement on social media by Vice President Mohsen Mansouri and on state television.
When this news out on the night of sunday, the state television interrupted its regular programming to broadcast prayers being held nationwide for Raisi. In a corner of the screen, live footage showed rescue teams searching the foggy, mountainous region on foot. Unfortunately prayers from all across muslim world remain unfruitful and death of both leaders confirmed by Iranian authorities.
Raisi, 63, was elected president in 2021 on his second attempt. Since assuming office, he has enforced stricter morality laws, overseen a violent suppression of anti-government demonstrations, and engaged in intense nuclear negotiations with world powers.
In Iran’s dual political system, which is divided between the clerical establishment and the government, the supreme leader, rather than the president, has the ultimate authority on all major policies. However, many consider Raisi a strong candidate to succeed his 85-year-old mentor, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has firmly supported Raisi’s primary policies.
Iranian authorities on Morning of monday moved the rescue teams towards the crashed chopper carrying Ebrahim Raisi after a Turkish drone Akinci identified a heat source in the accident region, Iran-based news network Press TV reported.According to Turkish News agency Anadolu, an Akinci UAV identified a source of heat suspected to be the wreckage of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Raisi and shared its coordinates with Iranian authorities.
The crash and news of President death comes at a time of growing dissent within Iran over an array of political, social and economic crises. Iran’s clerical rulers face international pressure over Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme and its deepening military ties with Russia during the war in Ukraine.
This is the time when the Middle East remains unsettled by the Israel- Hamas war, during which Raisi under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel just last month. Under Raisi, Iran enriched uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels, further escalating tensions with the West as Tehran also supplied bomb-carrying drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine and armed militia groups across the region.
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