During the funeral for the victims of a bomb explosion in Kerman, Iran, on January 5, 2024, Iranian President(Iran’s President) Ebrahim Raisi is pictured placing his hands on his heart in a gesture of respect towards the crowd. (Vahid Salemi/AP)
Iranian state media reported on Monday that President Ebrahim Raisi, the foreign minister, and other officials have died in a helicopter crash.
This tragic event leaves Iran without two key diplomatic leaders amid heightened regional tensions due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
The announcement on Monday by Iranian state-run media confirmed the deaths of President Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and other officials who were on board the helicopter.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi Dies at 63: A Hard-Liner’s Legacy and Impact on Dissent
State-run media did not provide an immediate cause for the crash but shared online images purportedly showing the helicopter wreckage. The helicopter, carrying the group, crashed in foggy conditions in a mountainous area in the northwest of the country near the Azerbaijan border.
Earlier, IRNA reported that the president of the Iranian Red Crescent Society confirmed that rescue and search teams had identified Raisi’s crashed helicopter. The aircraft, which was carrying Raisi, Amir Abdollahian, and other senior officials, went down in a mountainous part of northwestern Iran as they returned from an event near the Azerbaijan border.
On Sunday, Iran’s Interior Minister, Ahmad Vahidi, confirmed the president’s helicopter had a “hard landing” and said the search-and-rescue operation is ongoing, according to IRNA.
“Various rescue groups are moving towards the site, but due to the fog and bad weather, it may take time to reach the area. The work is under control,” Vahidi stated.
“There have been contacts with the president’s companions, but given the mountainous terrain and difficulty in establishing communications, we hope the rescue teams will reach the incident site soon and provide us with more information,” he added.
IRNA also reported that two passengers on the flight had communicated with rescue workers.
In this photo provided by Moj News Agency, rescue teams are seen near the site of the incident of the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Varzaghan in northwestern Iran, Sunday.
The Fars News Agency shared video footage of rescue teams at the helicopter’s “hard landing” site. Earlier in the day, the Iranian government’s X account posted an image of Raisi seated next to Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, at the opening of a dam along the border between the two countries.
A post on Raisi’s Instagram page asked supporters to pray for his health and that of his fellow passengers. Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, posted on X, saying, “We hope Almighty God will return the respected, esteemed President and his entourage to the arms of the nation.” Khamenei added that the government would continue to function amid the ongoing situation.
Raisi, elected in 2021, is a relative hard-liner. A former cleric and judge, Raisi took office with a promise to honor Iran’s nuclear deal with the U.S., despite former President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement in 2018. Nonetheless, Raisi is considered more of a hard-liner than his predecessor, Hassan Rouhani.
Last month, Raisi celebrated Iran’s attack on Israel following an airstrike in Damascus that killed seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iran blamed Israel for the bombing, though Israel did not claim responsibility. Israel reported intercepting 99% of the missiles and drones Iran fired during its retaliatory strike.
Although Iran’s president heads the government, the country is ultimately ruled by Supreme Leader Khamenei, who sets national policies, oversees their implementation, and controls the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and police force, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
Per Iran’s constitution, if the president dies in office, the first vice president takes over with the supreme leader’s approval, and a new election must be held within 50 days, as reported by Reuters.
