The president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, and the Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir Abdolahian, died in a helicopter accident in a mountainous area in the northwest of the country, state television and the official IRNA agency reported this Monday.
“Ayatollah Raisi and his companions lost their lives in the helicopter crash,” Iranian state television reported.
Iranian rescue teams found the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and other senior officials of the Islamic Republic “without signs of life,” the Red Crescent reported.
“No signs that they were alive”
“There were no signs that its crew members were alive,” said the head of the Red Crescent, Pir Hosein Kulivand, on the organization’s Telegram channel.
Kulivand indicated that they are using thermal trackers to try to locate the aircraft’s crew.
However, the Iranian authorities have not confirmed the death of Raisí and his companions on the plane. Foreign Minister Hosein Amir Abdolahian, the governor of East Azerbaijan, Malik Rahmati, and the leader of Friday prayers in the city of Tabriz, Mohammad-Ali Al-Hashem.
Iranian television showed remains of the helicopter
Iranian state television showed videos of the wreckage of the helicopter in a mountainous and forested area in the Varzeqan area of East Azerbaijan province, as well as images of members of the rescue teams next to the device in the middle of dense fog.
The helicopter in which Raisí was traveling disappeared on Sunday when it was returning from the city of Tabriz along with two other devices – which reached their destination without problems – and the official Iranian media reported that it had suffered a “forced landing”, without explaining the causes. .
After the loss of contact, a large device was launched with at least 65 rescue teams, but operations have been affected by bad weather, rain and dense fog in the mountainous area where the incident occurred, he reported. the Red Crescent.
They call for calm
Due to nervousness, Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, called on Sunday for calm in the face of Raisí’s unknown whereabouts and assured that “there will be no interruptions in the country’s functions.”
Meanwhile, hundreds of people gathered in the cities of Mashad, Qom and Tehran to pray for the well-being of the ultraconservative president, according to images broadcast on state television.
Raisí had inaugurated this Sunday a dam together with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliev, on the border between the two countries, a project that the leaders praised because they described it as a step forward in bilateral relations.
Raisí, ultraconservative
The ultra-conservative leader of Iran came to power in 2021, after winning the presidential elections with the lowest turnout in the history of the Islamic Republic and was one of the favorites to succeed Khamenei.
During his government, repression against activists, women and critics of the regime has intensified.
BY: The Times Union
