TEHRAN: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian have died in a helicopter crash.
The incident was confirmed on Monday by Vice President Mohsen Mansouri in statements on social media and state television.
“Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, East Azarbaijan Province’s Governor Malek Rahmati, and Mehdi Mousavi, the head of Raisi’s guard team, were also on board the crashed aircraft,” reported the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
The report added that Mohammad Ali Al-e-Hashem, the Supreme Leader’s representative in East Azerbaijan province, was also accompanying President Raisi and other officials.
A senior Iranian official, speaking anonymously due to the sensitivity of the situation, told Reuters: “President Raisi, the foreign minister, and all the passengers in the helicopter were killed in the crash.”
Iran’s Mehr news agency also confirmed that “all passengers of the helicopter” were “martyred.”
The helicopter carrying President Raisi and the foreign minister crashed on Sunday while flying through mountainous terrain amid heavy fog in the Varzaqan region of East Azerbaijan province.
Iranian state media attributed the crash to bad weather, which also hindered rescue efforts in the country’s northwestern region. The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported that Raisi was flying in a US-made Bell 212 helicopter.
Iran Red Crescent Society chief Pir-Hossein Kolivand, in an interview with the semi-official Tasnim news agency, said: “No trace of survivors has been found at the crash site.”
He further revealed that rescue teams discovered the crash site after “hours of extensive search in a mountainous region” in East Azerbaijan province.
President Raisi, Foreign Minister Amirabdollahian, and other high-ranking officials were returning to Iran after attending an inauguration ceremony of a dam on the border with the Republic of Azerbaijan when the helicopter crashed Sunday afternoon.
Following the death of the Iranian President, the Islamic Republic’s First Vice-President Mohammad Mokhber is set to assume power upon the Supreme Leader’s approval, as per Article 131 of Iran’s Constitution.
