Iran declares President Ebrahim Raisi dead in helicopter crash. international

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian have died in a helicopter crash in a mountainous and inaccessible area near Varzekan in the country’s northwest, the government confirmed on Monday. Iranian. The news was revealed around 7:30 a.m. local time, when state television confirmed that there were no “signs of life” in the remains of the plane that crashed on Sunday afternoon and which also carried other prominent people traveling to the Islamic republic. . The cause of the device crash is currently unknown. Two other helicopters that were flying President Raisi’s delegation along with members of the Iranian government did not have any problems and reached their destination. The helicopter had fallen in a mountainous area which was difficult to reach. Tehran initially described the accident as a “forced landing”. Dense fog, rain and mud have made efforts to search for the crashed plane difficult.

“The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ibrahim Raisi, has died while serving the people. The helicopter carrying Raisi, (…) crashed due to adverse weather conditions,” said a statement on the Iranian government’s Telegram channel. The Iranian President was accompanied on the visit by Foreign Minister Malek Rahmati, Governor of East Azerbaijan and Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, the representative of the Iranian Supreme Leader in the province. All have died, according to a note from the Iranian executive, who is about to hold an emergency meeting, the IRNA news agency reports. The government also said this Monday that the death of its President would “not cause the slightest disturbance in the administration” of the country.

Countries such as Turkey, Russia, Pakistan, Lebanon, Syria and Qatar, as well as the European Union and Iran-linked groups such as Yemen’s Houthi militia and Palestinian Hamas have already expressed their condolences to Tehran.

Early on Monday, after hours of a difficult search operation, the Red Crescent reported the discovery of the remains of the crashed helicopter. When making the announcement to Iranian state media, the head of that organization, Pir Hossein Kolivand, said that they were visiting the crash site and assured that the situation was not good. Later, a member of the Iranian government told Reuters that the helicopter was “completely burned.” Iranian television later showed photos of members of the Iranian Red Crescent carrying on stretchers several bodies recovered from the crash site.

Three helicopters in procession

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The helicopter in which Raisi was traveling was returning from northwestern Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, where he had attended the inauguration of two dams with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on Sunday morning. At the time of the accident the plane was heading towards the city of Tabriz, from where it disappeared about 70 kilometers away. There Raisi planned to visit the improvement works of a refinery.

It is unclear how many people were accompanying the President, including crew and possible security personnel. The damaged aircraft was one of three that formed the presidential delegation. The other two were traveling with Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian and Housing and Transport Minister Mehrdad Bazarpash, who reached their destination safely.

When the incident became known, a search and rescue operation was launched with the deployment of 40 mountain rescue teams, drones, dogs, armed forces and Iranian Red Crescent personnel. Chief of the General Staff Mohammad Bagheri ordered the use of all resources of the Army and the Revolutionary Guard and later included more troops sent by Turkey and Iraq. At Iran’s request, the European Union activated the Copernicus mapping system, designed to respond to emergencies, to help locate the helicopter.

As soon as no news was received from the President, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called for peace and assured that there would be no interruption in the country’s work. “We hope that Almighty God will return the respected and honored President and his entourage to the arms of the nation,” he wrote on his X account. During Sunday afternoon and evening, thousands of people took to the streets of Iran to pray for the president. State television broadcast images of worshipers praying in Raisi’s hometown of Mashad.

symbol of harsh rule

Born 63 years ago in Mashhad, about 850 kilometers east of Tehran, Raisi’s name began to be heard as a possible successor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, married with two children. Since he was elected president in 2021, when he replaced moderate Hassan Rouhani with 62% of the vote, the ultra-conservative leader has ordered a toughening of the moral code and has been steadfast against any demonstrations calling for change. Raisi confirmed its immobility, its resistance to the change expected by a large part of the population, when a 22-year-old girl, Mahsa Yeina Amini, died in police custody on September 16, 2022, three days after being arrested in Tehran . Caught for bad driving. Its response to the demonstrations following Amini’s death was a crackdown that the UN Independent Mission for Iran found to be crimes against humanity.

According to the Iranian political system, it is based on the concept of Velayat-e-Faqih (Government of Clerics), the most prominent figure in the hierarchy is the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The President, Raisi, follows him. In the event of his death, the Constitution provides that the Vice President, in this case Mohammad Mojabar, with the approval of the Supreme Leader, will replace him. After this, the country will have to hold elections to elect a new President within the next 50 days.

Minister Amir Abdollahian, 60, who also died in the incident, was appointed head of Iranian diplomacy in July 2021. He had close ties to the Revolutionary Guard, a fundamental pillar of power of the regime that succeeded Supreme Leader Khamenei, including his relationship with Qassem Soleimani. The leader of this body was killed by a US drone in Iraq in January 2020, making him one of the leaders and spokesmen not only of Tehran but of the so-called “axis of resistance” against the US and Israel.

Iran has been a fundamental actor in the tensions that have escalated in the Middle East since October 7, the day the Islamist militia Hamas launched an unprecedented attack against Israel, killing more than 1,200 people, and Benjamin Netanyahu’s government responded. Had given. The war against Gaza continues to this day and has caused more than 35,000 deaths, according to the calculations of the Strip’s health authorities. “Our hearts go out to the Iranian people, friend and brother. “We pray to God for mercy and care for the president, the foreign minister and his companions,” Hamas spokesman Ezzat al-Rishek said.

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