Ebrahim Raisi, Iran's 'draconian' President, & his foreign minister die in helicopter crash

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian have died in a helicopter crash, state media confirmed on Monday.

“President Raisi, the foreign minister and all the passengers in the helicopter were killed in the crash,” a report by Reuters quoted an Iranian official as saying.

The news of Raisi’s death came a day after the helicopter, an American-made Bell 212, carrying him and his foreign minister had gone missing in the mountains of northwestern Iran.

As per reports, the Raisi’s helicopter crashed due to heavy rains, fog and wind.

Raisi was travelling in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province when the incident occurred. As per state media, a “hard landing” took place near Jolfa, a city bordering Azerbaijan, approximately 600 kilometres northwest of Tehran, the Iranian capital.

He was travelling back from a trip to Iran’s border with Azerbaijan to inaugurate a dam with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) chief Pir-Hossein Kolivand, in an interview with the semi-official Tasnim news agency, on Monday morning said: “No trace of survivors has been seen after the discovery of the site of the crashed helicopter.”

The helicopter’s passengers included Ebrahim Raisi, Amir-Abdollahian, Iran’s East Azerbaijan Province Governor Malek Rahmati, and Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, the representative of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution to East Azarbaijan province, along with several other people who were killed in the incident.

Raisi, Iran’s president since August, 2021, was considered a hardliner and ally of Supreme Leader of Ali Khamenei. He was also considered as a possible successor of Khamenei as Supreme Leader.

Critics called him the ‘Butcher of Tehran’ for role in execution of political prisoners in the late 80s as part of role on prosecution committee.

With inputs from agencies