President of Iran was killed in an accident involving a helicopter, according to state media reports.

Iranian State media announced on Monday that there were no survivors discovered at the scene of a crash involving a helicopter that included Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi as well as Iranian Foreign Minister, and other officials.

By Joe Hernandez

May 20, 2024 12:49 AM

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is shown placing his hands on his heart as a gesture of respect to the crowd during the funeral ceremony of the victims of a bomb explosion in the city of Kerman, Iran, on Jan. 5, 2024. Vahid Salemi/AP

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi and the foreign minister of the country and several other government officials have been confirmed dead after an accident involving a helicopter, Iranian state media reported on Monday.

The Iranian government called an emergency meeting in the wake of Raisi’s demise and shortly after. the supreme leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, named First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber as Iran acting president.

The devastation leaves Iran with two influential diplomatic leaders as tensions remain high following the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas..

Iranian state-run media reported Raisi’s demise in an online posting this morning, as did the death of Hossein Amirabdollahian as well as other officials from the government who were on the helicopter.

There was no immediate reason for the crash was revealed however, state media posted photos on the internet of the wreckage of the helicopter that the group was in. The helicopter they were travelling in crashed during the fog of an area that is mountainous located in the northwest region of the country close to its border with Azerbaijan.

In the past, IRNA reported that the president of the Iranian Red Crescent Society confirmed that search and rescue teams had located Raisi’s crash helicopter. The plane that carried Raisi, Amir Abdollahian and other high-ranking officials crashed in the mountains of northwestern Iran when they returned from a celebration near Iran’s borders with Azerbaijan.

The immediate international reaction was from Iran’s neighbours. The Pakistani government declared that it would observe an observance of a day of mourning for the news. In Russia President Vladimir Putin sent his condolences to Khamenei, Russian state media said.

In this photograph, which was provided from Moj News Agency, rescue teams are seen close to the scene of the crash of the helicopter transporting Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, in Varzaghan in northwestern Iran on Sunday. Azin Haghighi/AP hide caption

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The rescue teams scoured the area for the helicopter

On Sunday the Interior Minister of Iran, Ahmad Vahidi, said a “hard landing” of the president’s helicopter. He also said that the search-and-rescue operations were in progress, according to IRNA.

IRNA announcedthat Two passengers who were on board spoken to rescue workers. A total of twenty rescue squads, comprising dogs and drones were dispatched to the scene. Additionally, the Iranian military had also sent troops to help in the rescue efforts, IRNA added.

The Fars News Agency posted what they claimed it was the video from rescue crews who were dispatched to the vicinity where the helicopter had made its “hard landing.”

The day before it was reported that on the same day Iranian state-run X website published a photo of Raisi sitting next to Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev at the opening ceremony of an artificial lake that runs along their border. nations.

The messageon Raisi’s Instagram page urged followers to ask for prayers in support of his wellbeing as well as the health of the other passengers.

Ali Khamenei declaredin a blog post posted on X: “We hope Almighty God will return the respected, esteemed President and his entourage to the arms of the nation.”

Khamenei saidthat the government will continue to function despite the current situation.

Raisi is a 2021-born politician. He is a moderate hard-liner

A former judge and cleric, Raisi was elected president in 2021.

As he took office, Raisi said Iran would remain committed to its nuclear agreement that it signed with U.S., despite former President Donald Trump’s decision to resign out of the deal in 2018.

Yet, Raisi has been viewed as a more conservative than his predecessor, the former Iranian leader Hassan Rouhani.

The month before, Raisi celebrated Iran’s attack on Israel following an airstrike on Damascus that killed seven soldiers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iran claimed Israel for the attack however Israel has never claimed the it was responsible. Israel claimed it stopped 99percent of the drones and missiles Iran launched during its attack in retaliation.

The president of Iran is the head of the government, however the country is run by Khamenei the supreme leader of the country.

The supreme Iranian leader decides on national policies and oversees the implementation of them, and supervises the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and police force, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

The Iran constitution stipulates that in the event the president dies at the helm, the next vice president is appointed subject to the approval of the supreme leader of the country, Reuters reported. The new election has to be held within 50 days.