State media in Iran have reported the death of President Ebrahim Raisi after the helicopter he was travelling in crashed in poor weather in an eastern province.
The reports came after rescuers from the Iranian Red Crescent said they had found the wreckage of the helicopter, which was also carrying the country’s foreign minister and other officials, and that there was “no sign of life”.
Rescue teams fought through dense fog, blizzards and mountainous terrain to reach the wreckage in the East Azerbaijan province early on Monday, but state television gave no immediate cause for the crash. With Raisi were Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of East Azerbaijan province and other officials and bodyguards, the state-run IRNA News Agency reported.
“President Raisi’s helicopter was completely burned in the crash unfortunately, all passengers are feared dead,” the Reuters news agency reported, quoting an un- named Iranian official.
Raisi, 63, was elected president on his second attempt in 2021, and since taking office, has overseen a tightening of morality laws, a bloody crackdown on antigovern- ment protests triggered by the death in custody of 22-year-old woman Mahsa Amini, and taken a tougher approach to nuclear talks with world powers.
Last month, he ordered an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel, following an alleged Israeli strike on Iran’s embassy compound in Damascus which killed 13 people including a top commander and his deputy.
