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Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has died in a helicopter crash, shocking the nation and fuelling uncertainty at a time of increased tensions in the Middle East.
In a statement, Iran’s cabinet said that “the hardworking and tireless president . . . sacrificed his life for the nation”.
The state news agency IRNA had earlier quoted “local sources” at the crash site in north-western Iran, confirming “the martyrdom of the president and his companions”. Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian also died in the crash.
Politicians and officials turned to social media to cite a Quranic verse used for the deceased. Mohsen Mansouri, a vice-president for executive affairs, wrote on X in Arabic: “We belong to God and to Him we return.”
The death of Raisi, a hardline conservative viewed as a possible successor to the country’s supreme leader, 85-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, comes at a difficult time for Iran. The economy is struggling in the face of US sanctions, while the country is also part of heightened tensions in the Middle East. A years-long shadow war between Iran and Israel has burst into the open following Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
The helicopter carrying the president came down on Sunday in a remote and mountainous region in Arasbaran Forest, near the border with Azerbaijan, according to Tasnim News Agency, which is closely linked to the elite Revolutionary Guards.
Rescue teams battled for hours to reach the crash site, with fog and snow hindering efforts.
The president and his entourage were returning from a visit to the Iranian province of East Azerbaijan, where they took part in the inauguration of a dam along with the president of neighbouring Azerbaijan.
First vice-president Mohammad Mokhber will take over Raisi’s duties. Iran’s cabinet on Monday held an extraordinary session chaired by Mokhber, state media reported.
In a statement, the cabinet said the services of “a hero and servant of the nation and a loyal companion to the leadership [Ayatollah Khamenei], will continue” and promised “there will be no slightest disruption” in the country’s management.
Raisi, 63, was elected in 2021 in a vote with a record-low turnout in the country’s history. He had been expected to seek re-election next year. Under Iran’s constitution, an election will now be held within 50 days.
The president showed unconditional loyalty to the ayatollah and maintained close relations with the Revolutionary Guards. After decades of tense relations between Iran’s presidents and the supreme leader over the extent of their powers, Raisi was the first to end these tensions.
Raisi was travelling in a helicopter purchased by the ousted Pahlavi dynasty in the 1970s. The Islamic Republic has not been able to upgrade its civilian and military aviation industry due to US sanctions.
Iran’s former foreign minister Javad Zarif blamed the US for Raisi’s death, saying it “has sanctioned the sale of airplane and aviation parts to Iran and does not allow the Iranian people to enjoy aviation rights”. He added: “These will be recorded in the list of America’s crimes against the Iranian people.”
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