Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi confirmed his death in helicopter crash after charred debris was found | World News

Bad weather is believed to have been a factor in the crash of the helicopter, which was flying back from Azerbaijan in a convoy of three planes.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has died after the helicopter he was traveling in crashed in a mountainous region in northwestern Iran.

Rescuers found the burned remains of the plane on Monday morning after it had been missing for more than 12 hours.

“President Raisi“The foreign minister and all passengers in the helicopter died in the crash,” a senior Iranian official told Reuters.

Live Updates – Iranian President Killed in Crash

IranMehr News Agency reported that “all passengers of the helicopter carrying the Iranian president and foreign minister were martyred.”

State television reported that it had crashed into a mountain. There was no official word on the cause, but there was thick fog in the area at the time.

“President Raisi’s helicopter was completely burned in the crash… unfortunately all passengers are feared dead,” an official told Reuters.

Drone footage appeared to show the tail of the helicopter and scattered debris.

Rescuers discovered the wreckage from a distance of around 200 kilometers, the head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, Pir Hossein Kolivand, told state media.

The search by civilian and military teams was made difficult by fog and the remote location.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has declared five days of national mourning.

First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber has been given the post, Iran’s IRNA news agency said, and elections must take place within 50 days

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Mr. Raisi, 63, considered the leading candidate to succeed Ayatollah Khamenei, traveled from Azerbaijan, where he had opened a dam with the country’s president.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian also died in the crash.

The governor of the East Azerbaijan province as well as other officials and bodyguards were probably also on board.

The president’s helicopter was traveling in a convoy of three planes and Iranian media initially described it as a “hard landing.”

Iran’s IRNA news agency said he was flying in a US-made Bell 212 helicopter.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first world leaders to react to news of Mr Raisi’s death.

“India stands with Iran in this time of grief,” he said in a post on X.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani expressed “great sorrow and great sadness” in a statement.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a post on

President Raisi was elected in 2021 in a vote that had the lowest turnout in the history of the Islamic Republic.

The president was sanctioned by the United States over the mass execution of political prisoners at the end of the Iran-Iraq War in 1988.

His time in office also included major protests Mahsa Amini – the woman who died after being arrested for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly.

Iran also made the unprecedented decision in April launch a drone and missile attack on Israel.

Sky’s Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall says the president was not a universally popular figure and so many were there Iran will celebrate his death.

He says the country’s foreign policy stance will likely continue “as usual” after his death.