Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister were killed in a helicopter crash in mountainous terrain and icy weather, an Iranian official said on Monday, after search teams located the wreckage in East Azerbaijan province.
Raisi was flying in a U.S.-made Bell 212 helicopter.
“President Raisi, the foreign minister and all the passengers in the helicopter were killed in the crash,” the senior Iranian official told reporters asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Iran’s Mehr news agency confirmed the deaths, reporting that “all passengers of the helicopter carrying the Iranian president and foreign minister were martyred.”
Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, East Azarbaijan Province’s Governor Malek Rahmati, and Mehdi Mousavi, the head of Raisi’s guard team were on board the crashed aircraft as well.
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Mohammad Ali Al-e-Hashem, the Supreme Leader’s representative in the province also accompanied them.
Local officials present at the crash site have confirmed the martyrdom of Raisi and his accompanying team.
Raisi, 63, was elected president in 2021, and since taking office has ordered a tightening of morality laws, overseen a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests and pushed hard in nuclear talks with world powers.
Mohammad Mokhber, 68, Iran’s first vice president, became interim president on the death of Raisi.
Source: Iran’s Mehr News Agency
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