Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi has died in a helicopter crash after it went missing in a mountainous region of northern Iran in foggy weather conditions.
The aircraft went down in between Jolfa and Varzaqan, a region on the border of Azerbaijani exclave Nakhchivan, around 600 kilometers (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital Tehran.
It was carrying 63-year-old hardliner Raisi – viewed as a potential successor to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – and Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, following a visit with the Azerbaijani president to inaugurate a new dam over the Aras River, which separates Iran and Nakhchivan.
Following an hours-long search, the state-run Mehr news agency announced that the president, foreign minister and East Azerbaijan Province governor Malek Rahmati had been “martyred” – shortly after the wreckage of the helicopter was found on the slope of a steep mountain. An official separately told Reuters that the president had died, and an announcement was also made on Iranian state TV.
As an emergency meeting of Iran’s cabinet was conducted, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared five days of national mourning and announced that Iran’s first vice president Mohammad Mokhbar had taken over the role of acting president, and would have 50 days to call an election.
Mr Mokhber had already begun receiving calls from officials and foreign governments in Raisi’s absence, state media reported, as Iran’s cabinet vowed to follow Raisi’s path and said that, “with the help of God and the people, there will be no problem with management of the country”.
Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator , will serve as the country’s acting foreign minister, state TV said.
Earlier, an official with the rescue operation said “President Raisi’s helicopter was completely burned in the crash,” as they ruled out finding any survivors.
Raisi – who was known to many as the “Butcher of Tehran”, over his role in the execution of thousands of prisoners of conscience during the purge of 1988 – was flying in a US-made Bell 212 helicopter, according to reports.
Turkish authorities said drone footage showed a fire some 20km south of the Azerbaijan-Iranian border on the side of the mountain.
Up to 40 rescue teams were involved in the frantic search for Raisi which went on for hours due to fog, rain and dark, Iran’s health minister said. In the early hours of Monday, a rescue team, wearing bright jackets and head torches, huddled around a GPS device as they searched a pitch-black mountainside on foot in a blizzard.
Iran’s revolutionary guard, ambulances, surgeons, rangers, drones and dogs were scrambled to the area to find the helicopter crash site.
Before Raisi was found, Iran’s supreme leader Seyyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei said he hoped God would return him to Iran and urged people to pray for his health. The White House said president Joe Biden had been briefed on reports about the crash, while China and Russia said they were deeply concerned.
The EU had offered its emergency satellite mapping technology in the search for the helicopter.
Aircraft in Iran face a shortage of parts, often flying without safety checks against the backdrop of Western sanctions. As a result, former Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif sought to blame the United States for the crash.
“One of the main culprits of yesterday’s tragedy is the United States, which ... embargoed the sale of aircraft and aviation parts to Iran and does not allow the people of Iran to enjoy good aviation facilities,” Mr Zarif said. “These will be recorded in the list of US crimes against the Iranian people.”
Turkey’s transport minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said that, since Iran falls within Turkey’s area of responsibility for emergency response, Turkish authorities had checked for a signal from the helicopter upon hearing news that it had crashed.
“But unfortunately, [we think] most likely the signal system was turned off or that the helicopter did not have that signal system, because those signals would definitely see those signals, but they didn’t [show this time],” he said.
Russia’s president Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping were among those to lament the loss of their “good friend” Raisi, with India and Venezuela also among those to pay their respects – while the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and European Counil president Charles Michel offered condolences to the crash victims’ families.
In an apparent rebuke to Mr Michel, Britain’s security minister Tom Tugendhat replied that he would not mourn Raisi, noting that the late Iranian president’s “regime has murdered thousands at home, and targeted people here in Britain and across Europe”.
Mr Putin swiftly held a phone call with Mr Mokhber on Monday, telling him that his late predecessor had been a reliable partner to Russia, the Russian state RIA news agency reported.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi said he was “deeply saddened and shocked by the tragic demise” of Raisi, adding: “His contribution to strengthening India-Iran bilateral relationship will always be remembered. My heartfelt condolences to his family and the people of Iran. India stands with Iran in this time of sorrow.”
Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro said Raisi was an “unconditional friend” of Venezuela. “A heartfelt hug from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. You, Iran, are an example of dignity, morality and resistance,” he added.
Lebanon, Syria and Pakistan all announced periods of national mourning, with Pakistan’s prime minister extending his deepest condolences to “Brotherly Iran” on behalf of himself and the Pakistani people and government.
A hardliner who formerly led Iran’s judiciary, Raisi was viewed as a protege of Iran’s supreme leader – and some analysts had suggested he could replace the 85-year-old leader after his death or resignation.
With Raisi’s death, the only other person so far suggested has been Mojtaba Khameini, the supreme leader’s 55-year-old son. However, some have raised concerns over the position being taken only for the third time since 1979 to a family member, particularly after the Islamic Revolution overthrew the hereditary Pahlavi monarchy of the shah.
Raisi – who is sanctioned by the US for his bloody role in the 1988 purge – won Iran’s 2021 presidential election, a vote that saw the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history.
Exiled Iranian women’s rights activist Masih Alinejad said her social media feeds were “flooded with videos of the family members of those killed by the President of the Islamic Republic, celebrating his death”, which she said “will increase the pressures on the regime as it faces internal and international challenges”.
Reuters also reported that the reaction in Iran was muted in comparison with the spectacular levels of public grief which have accompanied the deaths of other senior figures over the Islamic Republic's 45-year history.
While government loyalists packed into mosques and squares to pray for Raisi and Abdollahian, most shops remained open and the authorities made little effort to interrupt ordinary life.
In clips posted a year after Raisi's government brutally cracked down on the largest protests since the 1979 revolution, opponents even posted furtive video online of people passing out sweets to celebrate his death.
Additional reporting by agencies