Iran President Ebrahim Raisi, 63, his foreign minister, and other senior officials are confirmed dead in a helicopter crash that happened in the mountainous terrain of Iran’s rugged East Azerbaijan province.
Ebrahim Raisi before his death, was an Iranian politician who served as the eighth president of Iran from 2021 until he died on 19th May 2024. He became president after the 2021 election. Raisi served in several positions in Iran’s judicial system.
Iranian officials have said the mountainous, forested terrain and heavy fog impeded search-and-rescue operations, which began on Sunday. The president of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, Pir-Hossein Koulivand, said 40 search teams were on the ground despite “challenging weather conditions,” because of the bad weather, it was “impossible to conduct aerial searches” via drones, Koulivand said, according to IRNA. Early on Monday, Turkish authorities released what they described as drone footage showing what appeared to be a fire in the wilderness that they “suspected to be the wreckage of a helicopter.” The coordinates listed in the footage put the fire some 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the Azerbaijan-Iranian border on the side of a steep mountain.
Footage released by IRNA showed what the agency described as the crash site, across a steep valley in a green mountain range. Soldiers speaking in the local Azeri language said: “There it is, we found it.” Shortly after, state TV in an on-screen scrolling text said: “There is no sign of life from people on board.”
Under the Iranian constitution, if a president dies, the country’s first vice president — in this case, Mohammad Mokhber — would become president. Khamenei has publicly assured Iranians that there would be “no disruption to the operations of the country” as a result of the crash.
It will remember Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi received a red carpet welcome from Kenyan counterpart William Ruto when he had a three-country tour of Africa on 12th July.
During the press briefing after meeting Ruto, Raisi, who has previously described Africa as a “continent of opportunities”, said he wanted to boost commercial ties with African countries.
Iran stepped up its diplomatic outreach to developing world countries after then-US President Donald Trump ditched a nuclear pact in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions. In June, Raisi visited Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua to shore up support with allies also saddled with US sanctions.
His death comes a few weeks after Iran celebrated the “success” of its drone and missile attack on Israel as it staged an annual military parade.
Written By: Baraka Kennedy.
