Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi Passes Away

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian have tragically died in a helicopter crash in a mountainous area near Varzeqan, in the northwest of the country. The news was confirmed by a government spokesperson to Reuters on Monday morning.

The accident occurred as the helicopter they were traveling in was returning from an event in East Azerbaijan Province, where Raisi and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, had inaugurated two dams.

At the time of the crash, the aircraft was heading towards the city of Tabriz for a visit to a refinery. In addition to the president and the foreign minister, the helicopter carried the governor of East Azerbaijan, Malek Rahmati, and Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, the Supreme Leader's representative in the province.

The Iranian Red Crescent reported finding the helicopter wreckage early Monday, after a complex search operation hampered by rain and fog.

Pir Hossein Kolivand, head of the Red Crescent, stated that conditions were unfavorable, and it was later confirmed that the helicopter was "completely burned".

Raisi began his career in the Iranian judicial system at a young age, holding several key positions that allowed him to exert considerable influence.

In the 1980s, he served as Deputy Prosecutor General of Tehran, and his role in the mass executions of political prisoners in 1988 earned him a reputation for harshness. He was known as the "Butcher of Tehran" due to his involvement in these purges, which has been a subject of criticism both inside and outside Iran.

Following his death, Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, 68, will assume the role of interim president until new elections are held in 50 days.

The cause of the crash has yet to be determined. It is suspected that the helicopter was very old, dating back to the 1960s, and made in the United States, with spare part maintenance being a longstanding issue. Iranian authorities will conduct autopsies to identify the bodies and will provide more detailed reports in the future.