According to official media, Iran's president passed away in a helicopter accident
Iranian state media reported on
Monday that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the nation's foreign minister, and
other dignitaries had all been pronounced dead in a helicopter accident.
Following the news of Raisi's passing, the Iranian government called an
emergency conference, and Ali Khamenei, the country's supreme leader, then
appointed First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber as acting president. In
addition, Khamenei declared that the nation would observe five days of
mourning.
Due of the continuing Israel-Hamas conflict, which is still causing high regional tensions, Iran lost two of its most important diplomatic figures in the crash.
Along with the deaths of East
Azerbaijan province governor Hossein Amirabdollahian, foreign minister Hossein
Amirabdollahian, and other government officials on board the helicopter,
Raisi's passing was reported by state-run media in Iran on Monday.
Although there was no apparent explanation given for the incident, state media
posted pictures of what seemed to be the group's chopper wreckage online. As
they were returning from an event near Iran's border with Azerbaijan, the
chopper crashed in hazy weather in a mountainous region of northern Iran.
Iran's neighbors sparked an
immediate international response. In response to the announcement, Pakistan's
government declared it will hold a day of mourning. According to Russian
official media, President Vladimir Putin expressed his sympathies to Khamenei.
Rescue teams searched intensely for the helicopter
The Iranian Red Crescent Society's
head had earlier told IRNA that rescue and search crews had located Raisi's
helicopter.
According to IRNA, Iran's Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi announced on Sunday
that the president's helicopter had made a "hard landing" and that
search and rescue efforts were in progress.
Two of the passengers on the airplane spoke with the rescue personnel,
according to IRNA. IRNA further reported that the Iranian military had sent
personnel to aid with the rescue operation, in addition to the twenty rescue
teams—including drones and dogs—that had been dispatched to the scene.
What appeared to be video footage of rescue crews that had been sent to the area was posted by the Fars News Agency. The Iranian government's X account earlier in the day shared a picture of Raisi sitting next to Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, at the dedication of a dam on their shared border.
Raisi is a somewhat hard-line politician that was elected in 2021
Raisi, a former judge and clergyman,
won the presidency in 2021.
Even after then-President Donald Trump decided to back out of the nuclear
accord in 2018, Raisi declared upon taking office that Iran will uphold its
part of the pact.
Even still, Raisi is thought to be a harder-liner than Hassan Rouhani, the
former president of Iran.
Following an airstrike in Damascus that claimed the lives of seven members of
the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Raisi applauded Iran's attack on Israel
last month. Iran held Israel accountable for the bombing, while Israel never
made such a claim. 99 percent of the missiles and drones fired by Iran during
its retaliation strike, according to Israel and its allies, were intercepted.
Iran's supreme leader, Khamenei,
rules the nation; the president serves as the head of state.
The Council on Foreign Relations states that the supreme leader of Iran
establishes national policies, oversees their execution, and has command over
the police and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
According to Reuters, Iran's supreme leader must approve the first vice
president's succession plan if the president passes away while in office. Then,
fifty days must pass before a new election is held.