Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has died in a helicopter crash, Iranian media reported. His helicopter crashed in a mountainous region of the country.
Rescue teams searched the area of the crash for hours. One of the helicopters in the convoy was carrying Raisi, the foreign minister and other officials.
"The servant of the Iranian nation, Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi, reached the highest level of martyrdom while serving the nation," state television reported this morning.
Iran's Vice President for Executive Affairs Mohsen Mansouri posted verse X of the Koran on the web to express condolences.
Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdolahian, East Azerbaijan Province Governor Malek Rahmati, and Mehdi Mousavi, head of Raisi's security, were also on board the crashed helicopter.
They were accompanied by Mohammed Ali Al-e-Hashem, the representative of the supreme leader in the province. Local officials present at the scene confirmed the "martyrdom of Raisi and his accompanying team".
Ebrahim Raisi, an ultraconservative cleric, won the 2021 presidential election with nearly 62 percent of the vote.
Raisi was for many years a prosecutor with direct responsibility for the executions of political prisoners in the 1980s and subsequently under U.S. sanctions. His term would have expired next year. The President of Iran is second in the hierarchy of power. He will be replaced by First Vice-President Mohammed Mohber before presidential elections are held within 50 days.
Article 131 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic stipulates that 'in the event of the death, dismissal, resignation, absence or illness of the President for more than two months, the First Vice-President shall assume the powers of the President'.
This process must be approved by the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The constitution stipulates that a council composed of the speaker of parliament, the president of the Supreme Court and the first vice-president must organize the election of a new president within 50 days."
The future interim president, 68-year-old Mohamed Mohber, was appointed by Ebrahim Raisi as first vice president in August 2021, after the presidential election.
Iran's government will continue to operate "without the slightest disruption" following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, the cabinet said in a statement.
"We assure the loyal people that the path of service will continue with the tireless spirit of Ayatollah Raisi. Our work will continue without the slightest disruption," the statement said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Mod expressed his condolences. "I am deeply saddened and shocked by the tragic death of Raisi," he said.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has declared a day of mourning in the country.
'Flags will be lowered by half as a mark of respect to President Raisi and his companions. We stand in solidarity with brotherly Iran,' Shehbaz wrote in X.
The Iranian Red Crescent said the bodies of the dead had been removed from the crashed helicopter. / BGNES
