Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, a hardliner considered a potential successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed when his helicopter crashed in adverse weather near the Azerbaijan border, officials and state media reported on Monday.
The helicopter, which crashed on Sunday, was carrying Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and six other passengers and crew. The charred wreckage was discovered early Monday after an overnight search in blizzard conditions.
Supreme Leader Khamenei, who wields ultimate authority over foreign policy and Iran’s nuclear program, announced that First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber would assume the role of interim president, according to the official IRNA news agency. “I declare five days of public mourning and offer my condolences to the dear people of Iran,” Khamenei said in a statement. Mokhber, like Raisi, is considered close to Khamenei.
Per the Islamic Republic’s constitution, a new presidential election must be conducted within 50 days. Iranian state television showed wreckage scattered across a foggy hillside, and IRNA images depicted Red Crescent workers transporting a covered body on a stretcher. A senior Iranian official confirmed to Reuters that all on board the helicopter perished. Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani was named acting foreign minister following Amirabdollahian’s death, IRNA reported.
The crash occurs amid escalating dissent in Iran over numerous political, social, and economic issues. Iran’s clerical leaders are also under international scrutiny regarding Tehran’s contentious nuclear program and its strengthening military ties with Russia during the Ukraine war. Following Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, leading to Israel’s assault on Gaza, conflicts involving Iran-aligned groups have erupted across the Middle East.
A prolonged “shadow war” between Iran and Israel intensified last month with reciprocal drone and missile strikes. State media reported that images from the crash site showed the U.S.-made Bell 212 helicopter collided with a mountain peak, but there has been no official statement on the cause of the crash. Among the dead were the governor of East Azerbaijan Province and a senior imam from Tabriz city. An Israeli official, speaking anonymously, told Reuters, “It wasn’t us.”
The helicopter went down in the Varzeqan region north of Tabriz as Raisi returned from an official visit to the Azerbaijan border in Iran’s northwest. Raisi, 63, was elected president in 2021 and has since enforced stricter morality laws, overseen a violent crackdown on anti-government protests, and taken a firm stance in nuclear negotiations with global powers.
Condolences flowed in from Iran’s regional neighbours and allies, including leaders from Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Iraq, and Pakistan. Russian President Vladimir Putin called Raisi “a true friend of Russia,” while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed he was “deeply shocked and saddened.” There was limited reaction from Western capitals, although the European Union and Japan extended their condolences. Iran-backed militant group Hamas, engaged in conflict with Israeli forces in Gaza with Tehran’s support, released a statement expressing sympathy for the Iranian people over “this immense loss.” Similarly, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels in Yemen issued statements praising Raisi and mourning his death. Meanwhile, the exiled opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, called his death a “monumental and irreparable strategic blow” to the Islamic Republic.
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