Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was yesterday confirmed dead after search-and-rescue teams found his crashed helicopter in a fog-shrouded mountain region, sparking mourning in the Islamic republic.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has ultimate authority in Iran, declared five days of mourning and assigned Iranian Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, 68, to assume interim duties ahead of elections that would be held within 50 days.
Earlier yesterday, state TV announced that “the servant of the Iranian nation, Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi, has achieved the highest level of martyrdom” and broadcast pictures from Raisi’s life as a voice recited the Koran.
Photo: AFP
The ultraconservative Raisi, 63, had been in office since 2021, during a time that has seen Iran rocked by mass protests, an economic crisis deepened by US sanctions and armed exchanges with archenemy Israel.
Condolences flooded in from Palestinian militant group Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and from Syria, all members of the so-called Axis of Resistance against Israel and its allies, amid high Middle East tensions over the Gaza war.
Khamenei on Sunday had urged Iranians, while the search was ongoing, to “not worry” about the leadership of the Islamic republic, saying: “There will be no disruption in the country’s work.”
Photo: AFP / Iranian Presidency
Killed alongside Raisi were Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, known for his fierce anti-Israel sentiment and skepticism of the West, and seven others, including bodyguards, crew and political and religious officials.
Iran’s one-time top nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri was appointed acting foreign minister.
A black flag was hoisted at a major Shiite shrine in city of Qom, south of Tehran, as a sign of mourning for Raisi, whom many had considered a favorite to one day succeed the supreme leader.
Iranian authorities first raised the alarm on Sunday afternoon when they lost contact with the helicopter as it flew through a fog-shrouded mountain area of the Jolfa region of East Azerbaijan Province.
Raisi had earlier met Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on their common border to inaugurate a dam project.
On the return trip, only two of the three helicopters in his convoy landed in the city of Tabriz, setting off a massive search-and-rescue effort, with multiple foreign governments soon offering help.
Iranian Minister of the Interior Ahmad Vahidi at first spoke of a “hard landing” and urged citizens to ignore hostile foreign media channels and get their information “only from state television.”
Army personnel, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps personnel and police joined the search as Red Crescent teams walked up a hill in the fog and rain, and rows of emergency services vehicles waited nearby.
As the sun rose yesterday, rescue crews said they had located the destroyed Bell 212 helicopter, with no survivors among the nine people on board.
State television channel IRIB reported that the helicopter had “hit a mountain and disintegrated” on impact.
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