Dubai- President Sayid Ebrahim Raisi along with foreign minister Amir Abdollahian have been found dead at the site of a helicopter crash Monday after an overnight search through a foggy, mountainous region of the country’s northwest, state media reported. Raisi was 63.
The crash comes as the Middle East remains on edge from the devastating Israeli war on Gaza resulting in an unprecedented Iranian attack on Israel just last month. Under President Raisi, Iran began building ties with neighbouring Arab countries besides strengthening resistance against the US-Israeli alliance in the region.
Urgent search and rescue operations started on Sunday afternoon in the eastern part of Iran for Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and other officials after their helicopter encountered a “hard landing” incident in an area deemed “impassable.”
The semi-official news agency reports that the Iranian president, foreign minister and other occupants of the helicopter, including East Azerbaijan Province Governor Malek Rahmati, have been martyred.
The helicopter went down in the mountains near Jolfa, a city on the border with the nation of Azerbaijan, some 600 kilometres northwest of the capital, Tehran.
Raisi was returning from neighbouring Azerbaijan. According to the local media, nine people were onboard the helicopter and they included president, foreign minister, governor of Eastern Azerbaijan province Malek Rahmati, Tabriz’s Friday prayer Imam Mohammad Ali Alehashem, a pilot, copilot, crew chief, head of security, and another bodyguard.
The local media reported that heavy rains, fog, and wind caused the helicopter crash, while some described it as a “hard landing.”
Following the reports of the crash on Sunday, the chief of staff of Iran’s army ordered all army and elite Revolutionary Guards resources to be used in search and rescue operations. During the early hours of Monday, several visuals on social media showed a rescue team wearing bright jackets and head torches huddled around a GPS device as they searched a pitch-black mountainside on foot in a blizzard.
President Raeisi and his accompanying delegation were returning from a ceremony to inaugurate a dam on the Aras River with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei sought to reassure Iranians, saying there would be no disruption to state affairs.
“We hope that God the Almighty returns the dear president and his colleagues in full health to the arms of the nation,” Ayatollah Khamenei said, drawing an “amen” from the worshipers he was addressing.
However, the supreme leader also stressed that the business of Iran’s government would continue no matter what. Under the Iranian constitution, Iran’s vice first president takes over if the president dies, with the leader’s assent, and a new presidential election would be called within 50 days.
First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber already had begun receiving calls from officials and foreign governments in Raisi’s absence, state media reported. An emergency meeting of Iran’s Cabinet was ongoing as state media made the announcement Monday morning.
Following the announcement of the martyrdom of Raeisi and his team, the cabinet held an emergency session headed by Vice President Mohammad Mokhber.
Raisi, who won Iran’s 2021 presidential election, is sanctioned by the US. Raisi is the second Iranian president to die in office. In 1981, a bomb blast killed President Mohammad Ali Rajai in the chaotic days after the revolution.
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