Iran’s President Raisi declared dead in helicopter crash

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was declared dead on Monday after rescue teams found his crashed helicopter in a fog-shrouded western mountain region, sparking mourning in the Islamic republic, AFP reported.

“The servant of the Iranian nation, Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi has achieved the highest level of martyrdom while serving the people,” state TV declared, showing pictures of Raisi as a voice recited the Koran.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged Iranians late Sunday, as the search was still ongoing, to “not worry” about the leadership of the Islamic republic, saying “there will be no disruption in the country’s work”.

Under the Iranian constitution, first vice president Mohammad Mokhber, 68, should replace Raisi until presidential elections are held within 50 days.

Mokhber’s interim appointment requires the approval of Khamenei, who has the final word in all state affairs.

Killed alongside Raisi were Foreign Minster Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and seven others, including the pilot, bodyguards and political and religious officials.

Iranian authorities first raised the alarm on Sunday afternoon when they lost contact with Raisi’s helicopter as it flew through a fog-shrouded area of the Jolfa region of East Azerbaijan province.

Raisi had earlier met Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on their common border to inaugurate a dam project.

On the return trip, only two of the three helicopters in his convoy landed in the city of Tabriz, setting off a massive search and rescue effort, with multiple foreign governments soon offering help.

Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi at first spoke of a “hard landing” and urged citizens to ignore hostile foreign media channels and get their information “only from state television”.

Army, Revolutionary Guard and police officers were involved in the search as Red Crescent teams walked up a hill in the fog and rain as rows of emergency services vehicles waited nearby.

As the sun rose on Monday, more than 15 hours after the crash, rescue crews said they had located the destroyed aircraft with nine people on board, said the Tasnim news agency.

“The helicopter has been found,” said Iran’s Red Crescent chief Pirhossein Koolivand. “The situation is not good.”

He later confirmed that “we are in the process of transferring the bodies of the martyrs to Tabriz” and that “the search operations have come to an end”.