Iranian President, Foreign minister martyred in helicopter crash

President Ebrahim Raisi was martyred in a tragic helicopter crash on Sunday in the northwestern province of East Azerbaijan, following the return from the working trip.

His entire entourage, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Governor of East Azerbaijan Malek Rahmati, and Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Al-e Hashem, the Imam for Friday prayers in the city of Tabriz also perished.

The head of state had traveled to the border region after joining Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on Saturday to inaugurate a dam. Raisi had pledged to visit each of Iran’s 30 provinces at least once a year, and regularly traveled around the country.

Reports of a “crash landing” began circulating on Sunday afternoon, citing Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi.

Low visibility and the impassibility of the area made search operations difficult, according to the reports.

Rescue teams finally managed to locate the crash site on Monday morning with the help of Turkish surveillance drones.

The wreckage was discovered in a wooded area on a mountain slope. The aircraft was severely damaged and charred, and there were no signs of survivors, the Iranian Red Crescent Society said.

With Raisi’s passing, First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber is expected to take office as an interim leader.

A representative of the republic’s conservative wing, Raisi, was elected in 2021. Before assuming the presidency, he had worked his way up from Prosecutor and Deputy Prosecutor in Tehran in the 1980s and 1990s all the way to attorney general, and later chief justice.

According to the reports, the President's helicopter crashed against a mountaintop in the Varzaqan region on Sunday while returning from a ceremony to inaugurate a dam on Iran's border with the Azerbaijan Republic.

Courtesy of ISNA

UT expresses deep condolence on this tragic event .