Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian were declared deceased on Monday following a “hard landing” of their helicopter. This helicopter, part of a convoy, crashed due to complications caused by dense fog in the northern region of the country. President Raisi was en route to Tabriz, located in northwestern Iran, after visiting the Iran-Azerbaijan border area when the accident occurred.
Iran’s Mehr news agency announced: “President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian of Iran perished in the helicopter crash on Sunday.” Additionally, the local Tasnim news agency confirmed that there were no survivors. “Debris from the helicopter transporting the Iranian President discovered; no survivors detected,” reported Tasnim.
“An official informed Reuters that President Raisi’s helicopter was engulfed in flames during the crash, and regrettably, it is feared that all on board have perished.”
After the crash, rescuers battled through blizzards and challenging terrain overnight to arrive at the wreckage site in East Azerbaijan province by early Monday morning.
A Turkish unmanned aerial vehicle, the Akinci UAV, detected a heat source believed to be the remnants of a helicopter and communicated the coordinates of the potential crash location to Iranian officials, according to news agency Anadolu on X.
After identifying the heat source, the Iranian Red Crescent reported that they had located the helicopter’s wreckage and described the situation as “not good.”
State TV reported that there is “no indication” of life from President Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter.
Raisi, aged 63, assumed the presidency of Iran in 2021 and has since implemented stricter morality regulations.
