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Iran President Raisi, Foreign Minister Die In Helicopter Crash
According to Iranian official media, President Ebrahim Raisi passed away on Monday following a helicopter crash in the nation's mountainous northwest.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the foreign minister, was travelling with Raisi when he too perished in the collision.
Since Sunday afternoon, when a chopper carrying Raisi, the foreign minister, and other officials vanished, search and rescue teams have been combing the area.
Relief workers found the missing chopper early on Monday, and state TV announced the president's death.
State television declared on Monday that Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi, "the servant of the Iranian nation, has achieved the highest level of martyrdom whilst serving the people," and Mehr news agency confirmed his death.
Images of Raisi were shown on state television, and a man's voice reading the Koran could be heard in the background.
Mohsen Mansouri, Iran's deputy president for executive affairs, shared a verse from the Koran on X along with his condolences.
exceedingly cautious
Concerns have been mounting for the 63-year-old ultraconservative since Sunday, when the helicopter carrying him, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and other passengers lost touch in the region of East Azerbaijan.
Nine persons in all were on board the flight, the Tasnim news agency reported.
Rescue teams located the aircraft and then headed towards the crash scene, according to Iran's Red Crescent chief, Pirhossein Koolivand.
"We've located the helicopter. We are heading in the direction of the helicopter now," Koolivand remarked. We can make out the helicopter. It's not a nice situation.
"When the aircraft was located, there was no indication that the occupants were still alive as of yet,” state TV reported about 15 hours after the aircraft went missing.
Iranian media, such as the Fars news agency, released photos taken by a drone that seemed to show the helicopter wreckage.
In the Jolfa area of East Azerbaijan province, "an accident happened to the helicopter carrying the president," according to a Sunday afternoon report from state TV.
The chopper "made a hard landing" in inclement weather, according to Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi.
He advised citizens to avoid foreign media outlets that Iran views as antagonistic to the Islamic republic and to "only get their information from state television."
Three helicopters were part of Raisi's convoy; the other two, according to the Tasnim news agency, "reached their destination safely."
Iranians should "not worry" about the Islamic republic's leadership, according to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who also stated that "there will be no disruption in the country’s work"
Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Russia, China, and Turkey were among the foreign countries that expressed concern and offered assistance. Additionally, the European Union aided in the search effort by activating its fast reaction mapping service.
extensive search
Following the event, Vice President Mohammad Mokhber called an emergency meeting of Iran's cabinet, according to the IRNA news agency.
According to officials, the search included Army, Revolutionary Guard, and police personnel. TV stations displayed images of Red Crescent workers ascending a hill in the fog while lines of rescue cars stood by.
Raisi had been to the northwest province to join President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan in the groundbreaking of a dam project along their shared border.
"We were deeply troubled by the news of a helicopter carrying the top delegation crash-landing in Iran," Aliyev stated in a post on X.
At a time when regional tensions are running high due to the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas, which began on October 7 and has attracted the attention of other armed groups in the Middle East, foreign nations were intently monitoring the hunt.
"We are closely following reports of a possible hard landing of a helicopter in Iran carrying the Iranian president and foreign minister," a US State Department spokeswoman stated, adding, "we have no further comment at this time."
Speaking on condition of anonymity, an American official stated that US President Joe Biden had been briefed about the tragedy.
Since 2021, when US sanctions over Iran's disputed nuclear programme severely damaged the country's economy, Raisi has served as president, having replaced the centrist Hassan Rouhani.
The murder of Iranian-Kurdish lady Mahsa Amini in detention in September 2022, following her arrest for allegedly disobeying women's clothing codes, set up a wave of demonstrations in Iran.
Regional enemies Saudi Arabia and Iran unexpectedly resumed diplomatic ties in March 2023.
Tehran launched hundreds of missiles and rockets straight at Israel in April of this year as a result of the Gaza war, which sharply escalated regional tensions.
In a statement given after the dam's inauguration on Sunday, Raisi highlighted Iran's backing of the Palestinian people, which has been a cornerstone of its foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
"We think that the people of Iran and Azerbaijan always support the people of Palestine and Gaza and hate the Zionist regime," Raisi stated. "We believe that Palestine is the first issue of the Muslim world."
"We express our full solidarity with the Islamic Republic of Iran, its leadership, government, and people in this painful incident," declared Hamas, a group that is considered a terrorist organisation by the US and the EU.