Iranian Vice President Mohsen Mansouri confirms on Channel X that the president is dead. The Foreign Minister and others on board the helicopter also died.
On Monday evening, the helicopter was located by a Turkish drone.
The head of the Iranian Red Crescent, Pir Hossein Koulivand, said shortly before that that the situation looked bad when the rescue team got so close that they could see the helicopter from a distance of about two kilometers.
An official told Reuters earlier last night that the wreckage was completely burned.
A Turkish drone is said to have found the wreckage of the helicopter.
Continue as before
The country's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, has come out and asked people not to worry about the government in the country.
According to the Iranian government, the country's leadership will continue “non-stop,” according to Reuters.
On Sunday evening, Vice President Mohamed Mokhber chaired a crisis meeting in the government.
According to an Iranian official, they also fear for the life of Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian.
Photography: Wana News Agency/Reuters
The late Raisi has been serving as president since 2021, after winning the presidential elections with the lowest turnout in the 45-year history of the Islamic Republic.
Request management conditions
Iranian television reported for the first time that one of the three helicopters in the accompanying delegation was involved in an accident near the town of Yolta, near the border with the Azerbaijani enclave of Nakhchiva.
A large-scale search operation was carried out throughout the evening and night, under difficult weather conditions and poor visibility.
Several Iranian media outlets reported heavy rains and some winds in the area, according to the Iranian Fars News Agency. I write that the helicopter had to make an emergency landing due to bad weather and fog.
NRK journalist Sidsil Wold has covered Iran for a number of years as a Middle East correspondent. She says people are worried and wondering what happened.
– Iranians are holding their breath, she says.
She also says that there are difficult search conditions that make it almost impossible to apply in the usual way.
A large-scale search operation for the missing helicopter
Complete confusion
President Raisi was in Azerbaijan on Sunday morning to open a dam with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
Several high-ranking government employees are said to have been part of the accompanying delegation.
It was not clear for a long time whether the helicopter had actually crashed.
Iranian Interior Minister Ahmed Vahidi said on Sunday that one of the helicopters had made an emergency landing, but he did not mention anything about the president’s presence on board the helicopter.
– He then said: – We are waiting for more details.
Iranian television shows people gathering in the city of Mashhad to pray for the president.
Photo: AP
The Tehran Public Prosecutor now bears responsibility for spreading false news about the missing helicopter.
“Some media professionals” spread false news about the helicopter, and they received warnings from the prosecution. Write the island.
– At first the authorities said the landing was difficult. “Then they said it was an accident and now they say it was a helicopter,” Wold says.
Iranian television claimed earlier on Sunday evening that the helicopter had been found. But the Iranian Red Crescent, which participated in the research, denied this.
Many wanted to help
The Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces issued the order All resources must contribute to the research. At the same time, several countries are offering assistance.
Both Iraq and Azerbaijan will contribute to the search process.
The city of Julfa, near the border with Azerbaijan.
– The country's president said that Azerbaijan, as a neighbor, friend and brother country, is ready to provide assistance.
Türkiye is sending 32 specially trained rescue workers to assist in the search. Both Russia and the United Arab Emirates also said they would help if necessary.
US President Joe Biden is also aware of the matter.
Expresses his support
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on Monday on X that he was deeply shocked and saddened by the tragic incident. Moreover, he wrote that India is in agreement with Iran on this matter.
The Russian Embassy in Tehran and the Lebanese Hezbollah also offered their condolences, according to Reuters.
Hamas also said it mourns Raisi's death and praises his “support for the liberation of Palestine.” The Assad regime in Syria expresses its “solidarity” with Iran after the death of the president.
Many participated in the search for the helicopter and its passengers. They fight against both weather and lighting conditions.
Photo: Reuters
The situation is tense
Raisi was a conservative who previously led the judiciary in his country.
– He is close to the Supreme Leader of Iran. If he dies or is unable to govern, new elections must be called within 50 days, Wold says.
In recent years, Iran has witnessed protests against the authoritarian regime, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in 2022, while she was in the custody of Iran's morality police.
The death led to the largest wave of opposition in the country in several years, and although the protests have subsided, many Iranians oppose the country's leadership.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is on the left.
Photography: Waheed Salmi/AFP
Iran and Israel have fought a so-called shadow war in recent years. The tendency is for them to attack each other in third countries. But after the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel, the conflict escalated.
Under the Iranian constitution, the vice president must serve as interim president, and new presidential elections must be held within 50 days.
published
05/19/2024 at 17.08
Updated
05/20/2024 at 09.08
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