Iran's President Ibrahim Raisi martyred in helicopter crash

 

Ebrahim Raisi and Hossein Amir-abdollahian dead after helicopter went down in mountains close to Azerbaijan border۔

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi has died in a helicopter crash in foggy weather in the mountains near the border with Azerbaijan, Iranian state media has reported. Foreign minister Hossein Amir-abdollahian was among those killed.

With Raisi and Amir-abdollahian in Sunday’s fatal crash were the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and other officials and bodyguards, the state-run IRNA news agency reported early on Monday.

Iran’s Mehr news agency also confirmed the deaths, reporting that “all passengers of the helicopter carrying the Iranian president and foreign minister were martyred”.

Reuters quoted an unnamed Iranian official as saying the men were killed when the helicopter crashed in mountainous terrain and icy weather.

Earlier on Monday, rescue teams located the wreckage of the helicopter on heavily forested terrain but detected no signs of life, state TV reported Pir Hossein Kolivand, the head of Iran’s Red Crescent, as saying.

Fears had been growing for the 63-year-old ultraconservative after contact was lost with the aircraft on Sunday as it navigated fog-covered mountains in north-west Iran.

The helicopter carrying Ebrahim Raisi takes off near the border with Azerbaijan on Sunday. Photograph: Ali Hamed Haghdoust/AP

Footage later emerged online of drone operators searching the forested slopes, and Iranian media including Fars news agency shared drone images of what appeared to be wreckage.

“The helicopter has been found. Now, we are moving toward the helicopter,” said Koolivand. “We are seeing the helicopter. The situation is not good.”

In the early hours of Monday, a Turkish drone located a “source of heat suspected to be wreckage of helicopter carrying Iranian President Raisi”, Turkey’s state-run news agency Anadolu reported, prompting Iranian rescue teams to head to the site.

Earlier, the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – who holds ultimate power in the Islamic Republic – sought to reassure the nation. Iranians should not worry or be anxious, he said, adding: “No disruption will occur in Iran’s state affairs.”

Iranian state media blamed bad weather for the crash and said it was complicating rescue efforts. Raisi’s convoy had included three helicopters, and the other two had “reached their destination safely”, said the Tasnim news agency.

The incident happened near Jolfa, a city on the border with Azerbaijan, about 375 miles (600km) north-west of the Iranian capital, Tehran. The president had been travelling in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province.