Iran's controversial President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdullahian and other officials were killed Monday after a helicopter crashed in a mountainous area in the country's northwest, Iranian state media reported. He was confirmed dead.
The death of Raisi, known as the “Butcher of Tehran” for overseeing mass executions of political prisoners in 1988, forced Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to establish an interim leadership of Iran's executive branch. Israeli officials denied any Israeli involvement in the fatal accident, telling Reuters bluntly: “It's not us.”
Iran has long supported the terrorist organization Hamas and is currently at war with Israel for months.
Iranian state television said on Monday that there were no “signs of life” at the crash site after the helicopter carrying Raisi, 63, Abdullahian, 60, and others made a “hard landing” on Sunday. .
Iranian president experiences 'hard landing' on helicopter: Iranian media
In this photo provided by Moji news agency, rescue team members work at the scene of a crash of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in northwestern Iran on Monday. (Ajin Haghighi, Moj News Agency, via AP)
The crash site was across a steep valley, state media said, adding that the accident occurred “due to a technical failure.”
Raisi was returning to Tehran on Sunday after visiting the Iran-Azerbaijan border to inaugurate a dam with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev when the accident occurred in the Dismar Forest in Iran's East Azerbaijan province.
IRNA said the crash killed a total of eight people, including three crew members of the Bell Helicopter, which Iran purchased in the early 2000s.
Iranian state media reported on Monday that there were “no signs of life” at the crash site of the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and other officials. (Ali Hamed Hagdast/IRNA, via AP)
Iranian officials said mountainous, forested terrain and dense fog hampered search and rescue operations that began Sunday.
Pir Hossein Krivand, chairman of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, said 40 search teams were on the ground despite “harsh weather conditions”. According to the Iranian news agency, Krivand said that due to bad weather, “aerial searches using drones are not possible.”
Mr Kollivand told state media that rescue workers spotted the helicopter from about 1.25 miles away as the sun rose on Monday. Officials said the helicopter was missing for more than 12 hours before it was found.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdullahian (left) and President Ebrahim Raisi attend a bilateral agreement signing ceremony at the Revolutionary Palace in Havana, Cuba, on June 15, 2023. (Yamil Raji/AFP)
One local government official described the incident as a “crash,” while others called it a “hard landing” or an “incident.”
Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said in comments aired on state television: “The esteemed president and his company were on their way home in several helicopters, but one of the helicopters crashed due to bad weather and fog. I was forced to land,” he said.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei then appointed First Vice President Mohamed Mokbel as interim head of the executive branch following the crash.
The incident comes shortly after the Iranian government, under the leadership of Raisi and Khamenei, launched an unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel last month.
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Members of a rescue team in Iran searched the wreckage of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Monday. (Ajin Haghighi, Moj News Agency, via AP)
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Iran is also facing years of mass protests against its Shiite theocracy in response to economic decline and attacks on women's rights.
Fox News Greg Norman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.