Iranian state media reported on Monday that the nation’s President Ebrahim Raisi, the overseas minister and different prime authorities officers had been introduced lifeless in a helicopter crash.
The Iranian authorities held an emergency assembly following the announcement of Raisi’s loss of life, after which Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appointed First Vice President Mohammed Mokbel as performing president. Khamenei additionally introduced 5 days of mourning throughout the nation.
The crash leaves Iran with out two of its most vital diplomatic figures at a time of rising regional tensions because of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Iranian state media introduced Raisi’s loss of life in a submit on Monday, together with the deaths of Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdullahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, and different authorities officers who had been on board the helicopter.
The explanation for the crash was not instantly clear, however state media printed photos on-line of what seemed to be wreckage of the helicopter carrying the group, which crashed in foggy situations within the mountains of northern Iran whereas coming back from an occasion alongside the Iran-Azerbaijan border.
International reactions had been swift from Iran’s neighbours. The Pakistani authorities introduced a day of condolences following the information, whereas Russian President Vladimir Putin conveyed his condolences to Khamenei, Russian state media reported.
Rescue groups frantically looked for the helicopter.
Earlier, the Iranian News Agency reported that the pinnacle of the Iranian Red Crescent confirmed {that a} rescue and search workforce had noticed Raisi’s helicopter.
Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi stated Sunday that the presidential helicopter had made a “onerous touchdown” and that search and rescue operations had been underway. According to IRNA,.
Iran reportTwo passengers on the aircraft had been involved with rescue staff, the Iranian information company stated. Twenty rescue groups, together with drones and canine, had been dispatched to the scene, and the Iranian military additionally despatched troops to help within the rescue effort. Added.
The Fars News Agency reported: Video footage He was one of many rescue workforce members dispatched to the scene. Early that very same morning, the Iranian authorities’s X account I posted an image Foreign Minister Raisi sits subsequent to Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev in the course of the opening ceremony of a dam alongside the border between the 2 international locations.
Raisi was elected in 2021 and is a comparatively hard-line chief.
Raisi, a former cleric and decide, was elected president in 2021.
When he took workplace, Raisi stated Iran would proceed to respect the nuclear take care of the United States, regardless of then-President Donald Trump’s choice to withdraw from it in 2018.
Still, Raisi is seen as a extra hardline determine than his predecessor, former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
Raisi praised Iran’s assault on Israel after an airstrike in Damascus final month killed seven Revolutionary Guards members. Iran blamed Israel for the bombing, however Israel didn’t declare duty. Israel stated it and its allies intercepted 99 p.c of the missiles and drones fired by Iran throughout its retaliatory strikes.
Iran’s president is the pinnacle of presidency, however the nation is dominated by the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
According to the Council on Foreign Relations, Iran’s supreme chief units nationwide coverage and oversees its implementation, in addition to controlling the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the police.
According to Reuters, Iran’s structure stipulates that if the president dies in workplace, the primary vp will take over the presidency with the approval of the supreme chief, after which new elections have to be held inside 50 days.
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