Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi killed in helicopter crash

Iranian state media IRNA has shared footage showing the wreckage of President Raisi’s helicopter found by the volunteer drone team of the Relief & Rescue Organization of the Red Crescent

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister d!ed when their helicopter crashed as it was crossing mountain terrain in heavy fog, an Iranian official told news agency Reuters.

“The servant of Iranian nation, Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi has achieved the highest level of martyrdom whilst serving the people,” state television said today.

The incident occurred during President Raisi’s return flight to the Iranian city Tabriz after he and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev inaugurated the Qiz Qalasi Dam on their shared border

The helicopter, carrying President Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and other officials, lost contact approximately 30 minutes into the flight. This sparked immediate concerns and a massive search and rescue operation.

Initial reports from Iran’s state media described the situation as an “accident.” Iran’s Deputy President for Executive Affairs Mohsen Mansouri said that two members of the president’s entourage had contacted rescue teams, suggesting that the incident might not have been catastrophic.

Mansouri added that the Ministry of Communications had managed to narrow down the potential crash site to within a two-kilometre radius.

Iranian state media reported that Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy Mehdi Safari claimed that the Tabriz Friday prayer leader had managed to speak with President Raisi, 63, via phone from the downed helicopter. “Mehdi Safari, who was present in one of the three helicopters carrying President Raisi’s entourage, said the Tabriz Friday prayer leader had made a phone call to the president from inside the crashed copter,” the report reads.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged calm and assured that there would be no disruption in the country’s governance. “We hope that Almighty God will bring our dear president and his companions back in full health into the arms of the nation,” he stated in a televised address.