The president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, and his Overseas Minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, have died in a helicopter twist of fate in a mountainous and difficult-to-access house close to Varzeqan, within the Iranian province of East Azerbaijan, within the northwest of the rustic. , as showed this Monday by way of the Iranian Executive. The inside track was identified round 7:30 within the morning native time (6 within the morning in Spanish peninsular time), after State tv showed that there have been “no indicators of lifestyles” within the wreckage of the plane. crashed on Sunday afternoon and during which different distinguished leaders of the Islamic Republic, individuals of its safety staff and the pilots of the tool had been additionally touring, a complete of 8 other people, none of whom have survived. The reasons of the plane twist of fate are unknown presently, which Iran has attributed to “hostile climate stipulations.” Two different helicopters that had been flying in President Raisí’s delegation with individuals of the Iranian Executive didn’t endure issues and reached their vacation spot. The helicopter had fallen in a mountainous house that was once hard to entry. Tehran to start with described the twist of fate as a “compelled touchdown.” Seek efforts for the crashed plane had been made hard by way of thick fog, rain and dust.
“Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi, president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has died whilst serving the folk. The helicopter transporting Raisí, (…) because of hostile climate stipulations, suffered an twist of fate,” reads a commentary from the Iranian Executive on its Telegram channel. Additionally touring with the Iranian president had been the Minister of Overseas Affairs, the governor of East Azerbaijan, Malek Rahmati, and Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, consultant of the Iranian best chief on this province. All have died, in step with the observe from the Iranian Govt, which goes to carry an emergency assembly, as reported by way of the Irna information company. The Executive has additionally mentioned this Monday that the loss of life of its president “won’t entail the slightest disturbance within the management” of the country. The Leader of Workforce of the Iranian Armed Forces, Mohammad Bagheri, has since ordered an investigation into the reasons of the helicopter crash, in step with the ISNA information company.
A central authority spokesperson cited by way of Irna has already showed that the stairs supplied for by way of the Iranian Charter can be adopted within the match of the president’s loss of life. The till now first vp of Iran, Mohamad Mojber, will think the management of the Govt, after acquiring the golf green gentle from the best chief, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The brand new appearing president, at the side of a council during which the pinnacle of the rustic’s judiciary and the president of Parliament will take part, “will now take measures to carry presidential elections inside of 50 days,” mentioned that reliable media.
Mojber, 69, represents continuity. Like Raisí, he is thought of as a detailed collaborator of Khamenei, who has the overall say in all state affairs. First vp since 2021, when the past due president ascended to the presidency, he was once in the past director of Setad, an funding fund connected to the best chief. In 2020, the Eu Union sanctioned him for his alleged involvement within the Iranian nuclear program and the rustic’s ballistic missile program, however two years later, it got rid of him from the sanctions listing.
The appearing president has already appointed the deputy international minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, as period in-between head of that portfolio, in step with Irna, which quotes the federal government spokesman, Ali Bahadari Jahormi. Bagheri is understood for having been the pinnacle of the Iranian negotiating delegation for the nuclear deal.
Up to now, Ultimate Chief Khamenei had launched, thru reliable media, a message of condolences for the loss of life of Raisí: “On this sour tragedy, the Iranian country misplaced a good-hearted, humble and treasured servant,” he mentioned. Khamenei. He then added that President Raisi by no means stopped running “laborious and tirelessly for the folk of Iran in spite of dealing with complaint from evil other people.” Iran’s best chief has declared 5 days of public mourning. All sports activities competitions and cultural occasions were postponed.
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Nations similar to Turkey, Russia, Pakistan, Lebanon, Syria and Qatar, in addition to the Eu Union and teams connected to Iran similar to Yemen’s Houthi military and the Palestinian Hamas, have already offered their condolences to Tehran. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and the Chinese language president, Xi Jingping, have outlined Raisi as “a pal” in their respective international locations. The king and crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohamed Bin Salman, have additionally conveyed their condolences to the Iranian government. Iran and Saudi Arabia reestablished diplomatic family members ultimate Marchafter seven years of general rupture.
After hours of a troublesome seek operation, early on Monday, the Pink Crescent reported the invention of the stays of the crashed helicopter. When making the announcement to Iranian state media, the pinnacle of that group, Pir Hossein Kolivand, mentioned that they had been heading to the website online of the twist of fate and confident that the placement was once now not nice. Later, a member of the Iranian govt advised Reuters that the helicopter was once “utterly burned.”
3 helicopters within the procession
The helicopter during which Raisi was once touring was once coming back from the province of East Azerbaijan, in northwest Iran, the place he had participated on Sunday morning within the inauguration of 2 dams at the side of his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev. On the time of the twist of fate, the plane was once heading in opposition to town of Tabriz, about 70 kilometers from the place it disappeared. There, Raisí deliberate to consult with the development works of a refinery.
The photographs and movies launched have published that the helicopter was once a US-made Bell 212, a medium-sized automobile with capability for one pilot and 14 passengers. It’s unclear what number of people accompanied the president in general, together with staff and imaginable safety team of workers. The broken plane was once one in every of 3 that shaped a presidential delegation. The opposite two had been touring with the Ministers of Power, Ali Akbar Mehrabian, and of Housing and Transportation, Mehrdad Bazrpash, who arrived safely at their vacation spot.
When the incident was identified, a seek and rescue operation was once introduced with the deployment of as much as 40 mountain rescue groups, drones, canine, team of workers from the Armed Forces and the Iranian Pink Crescent. The executive of the Basic Workforce, Mohammad Bagheri, ordered the usage of all of the assets of the military and the Progressive Guard and later extra troops despatched by way of Turkey and Iraq had been added. At Iran’s request, the Eu Union activated the Copernicus mapping device, designed to reply to emergencies, to lend a hand find the helicopter.
Because the hours handed with out information from the president, the best chief, Ali Khamenei, referred to as for calm and confident that there can be no interruptions within the nation’s purposes. “We are hoping that Almighty God will go back the revered and esteemed president and his entourage to the fingers of the country,” he wrote on his X account. During the afternoon and night time of Sunday, hundreds of other people took to the streets of Iran to Pray for the president. State tv broadcast photographs of worshipers praying in Mashad, Raisi’s place of birth.
Image of a harsh regime
Born in Mashad, about 850 kilometers east of Tehran, 63 years in the past, married with two youngsters, the title of Raisí even appeared like a imaginable successor to Ultimate Chief Ali Khamenei. Since he was once elected president in 2021, when he succeeded the reasonable Hassan Rohani with 62% of the votes, the ultraconservative chief ordered ethical codes to be toughened and was once company in opposition to any demonstration for alternate. Raisí showed his immobility, his resistance to the alternate longed for by way of a big a part of the inhabitants, when a 22-year-old lady, Mahsa Yina Amini, died in police custody on September 16, 2022, 3 days after being arrested in Tehran for dangerous riding. positioned the veil. His reaction to the demonstrations unleashed by way of Amini’s loss of life was once a repression that for the UN Unbiased Challenge for Iran integrated the fee of crimes in opposition to humanity.
Minister Amir Abdolahian, 60, who additionally died within the incident, was once appointed head of Iranian international relations in July 2021. His shut ties with the Progressive Guard, a elementary pillar of the regime’s energy after Ultimate Chief Khamenei, together with his dating closeness with Qasem Soleimani, chief of this frame killed by way of a US drone in January 2020 in Iraq, led him to transform some of the leaders and spokespersons now not most effective of Tehran but in addition of the so-called “axis of resistance” in opposition to the United States and Israel.
Iran has been a elementary actor within the stress unleashed within the Heart East since October 7, the day the Islamist military Hamas introduced an extraordinary assault in opposition to Israel, which value the lives of greater than 1,200 other people, and the Executive of Benjamin Netanyahu spoke back with a warfare in opposition to Gaza that continues these days and which, in step with the calculations of the Strip’s well being government, has led to greater than 35,000 deaths. “Our center is going out to the Iranian other people, good friend and brother. We ask God for mercy and deal with the president, the Overseas Minister and his partners,” mentioned Hamas spokesman Izzat al Risheq.
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