Newsman: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and six other passengers and crew was killed when his helicopter crashed in poor weather in mountains near the Azerbaijan border, officials and state media said on Monday. President Ebrahim Raisi was known as a potential successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The burnt wreckage of the helicopter which crashed on Sunday carrying Raisi was found early on Monday after an overnight search in blizzard conditions.
Supreme Leader Khamenei, who holds ultimate power with a final say on foreign policy and Iran’s nuclear programme, said First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, would take over as interim president, the official IRNA news agency reported. . Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani was appointed as acting foreign minister, IRNA said.
“I announce five days of public mourning and offer my condolences to the dear people of Iran,” Khamenei said in a statement. Mokhber, like Raisi, is seen as close to Khamenei.
“As Iran selects a new president, we reaffirm our support for the Iranian people and their struggle for human rights and fundamental freedoms,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said as the U.S. expressed its “official condolences”.
Under the Islamic Republic’s constitution, a new presidential election must be held within 50 days.Any candidate must first be vetted by the Guardian Council, a hard-line meaning the overall thrust of Iranian policy would be unlikely to change.
The crash comes at a time when Iran’s clerical rulers face international pressure over Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme and its deepening military ties with Russia during the war in Ukraine.
Since the Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, provoking Israel’s assault on Gaza, blaze involving Iran-aligned groups have erupted throughout the Middle East.
A long “shadow war” between Iran and Israel broke into the open last month with tit-for-tat exchanges of drone and missile fire.
State media reported that images from the site showed the U.S.-made Bell 212 helicopter slammed into a mountain peak, although there was no official word on the cause of the crash. The dead also included the governor of East Azerbaijan Province and a senior imam from Tabriz city.
Iran was a major buyer of Bell helicopters under the U.S.-backed Shah before the 1979 Islamic revolution, though the exact origin of the aircraft that crashed was not clear. Decades of sanctions have made it hard for Iran to obtain parts or upgrade its aircraft.
The helicopter went down in Varzeqan region north of Tabriz, as Raisi returned from an official visit to the border with Azerbaijan, in Iran’s northwest, to inaugurate the Qiz-Qalasi Dam, a joint project.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister called Kani to express condolences and reiterated Saudi’s support for Iran.
Messages of condolences flooded in from Iran’s other regional neighbours and allies, including the leaders of Syria, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Iraq and Pakistan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called Raisi “a true friend of Russia”. The Kremlin said he had spoken to Mokhber by phone and both stressed “mutual intention to further strengthen Russian-Iranian interaction”.
