Rescue teams found the crashed helicopter and determined that “there are no signs of life.” Therefore, Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hosein Amir Abdolahian, and the rest of the crew are believed dead.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisí and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdolahian have died in a helicopter crash in a mountainous area between Iran and Azerbaijan, the country’s authorities confirmed on Monday.
“Ayatollah Raisi and his companions died in the helicopter crash,” Iranian state TV reported. “Ayatollah Raisi, the beloved President of our country, died in a helicopter accident in the Varzeqan region of East Azerbaijan and joined the Supreme Kingdom,” the official IRNA agency confirmed.
Hours earlier, the Red Crescent had reported that he had been located “no sign of life” the helicopter in which the president and the foreign minister traveled, as well as the governor of East Azerbaijan, Malik Rahmati, and the leader of Friday prayers in the city of Tabriz, Mohammad-Ali Al-Hashem, as well as an unspecified number of crew members.
The IRNA agency has reported that ‘a call was made’ after the death of the president an urgent cabinet meeting”which will be chaired by the first vice president of IranMojberwho, according to the Iranian constitution, should assume the presidency.
The helicopter in which Raisí was traveling disappeared yesterday, Sunday, as it returned from the city of Tabriz together with two other aircraft – both reaching their destinations without any problems – and official Iranian media reported that it had undergone a “forced landing”. without explaining the causes.
After the loss of contact, a major operation was launched with at least 65 rescue teams, but operations were affected by bad weather. rain and dense fog in the mountainous area where the incident took place, the Red Crescent reported.
Raisí had this Sunday, together with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliev, inaugurated a dam on the border between the two countries, a project that the leaders described as a step forward in bilateral relations after years of tensions.
The ultra-conservative president came to power in 2021 after winning the presidential election with the lowest turnout in the history of the Islamic Republic and He was one of the favorites to succeed Khamenei.
Source: EITB
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