The President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister have been killed in a helicopter crash in East Azerbaijan.
According to Reuters, the search teams located the wreckage in East Azerbaijan province on Monday, after the accident occurred on Sunday in mountainous terrain and icy weather.
The chopper also had the country’s Foreign Minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian; Governor of East Azarbaijan Province, Malek Rahmati, and Hojjatoleslam Al Hashem, Tabriz on board.
“President Raisi, the foreign minister and all the passengers in the helicopter were killed in the crash,” a senior Iranian official told Reuters, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.
The crash comes as the Middle East remains unsettled by the Israel-Hamas war, during which Raisi, under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel just last month.
Raisi’s death was further confirmed by the state television on Monday which broadcasted that, “The servant of the Iranian nation, Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi has achieved the highest level of martyrdom whilst serving the people.”
Also, the country’s vice president for Executive Affairs, Mohsen Mansouri, posted on X a Koranic verse used to express condolences.
As of the time of filing this report, state media said the Iranian government had gone into an emergency meeting after the president and some members of the cabinet had been confirmed dead on Monday.
The emergency meeting was chaired by the Vice President Mohammad Mokhber.
