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Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has died in a helicopter crash, state media reported on Monday.
The state news agency IRNA quoted “local sources” at the crash site in north-western Iran, confirming “the martyrdom of the President and his companions”. Also on the helicopter was Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian.
Politicians and officials turned to social media to cite a Quranic verse used for the deceased. Mohsen Mansouri, a vice-president for executive affairs, wrote on X in Arabic: “We belong to God and to Him we return.”
The death of Raisi, a hardline conservative viewed as a possible successor to the supreme leader, 85-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, comes at a difficult time for Iran. The economy is struggling in the face of US sanctions, while the country is also part of heightened tensions in the Middle East. A yearslong shadow war between Iran and Israel has burst into the open following Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
The helicopter carrying the president came down on Sunday in a remote and mountainous region in Arasbaran Forest, near the border with Azerbaijan, according to Tasnim News Agency, which is closely linked to the elite Revolutionary Guards.
Rescue teams battled for hours to reach the crash site, with fog and snow hindering efforts.
The president and his entourage were returning from a visit to the country’s north-western province of East Azerbaijan, where they took part in the inauguration of a dam. The president of northern neighbour Azerbaijan was present at the ceremony as well.
First vice-president Mohammad Mokhber will take over Raisi’s duties. Iran’s cabinet on Monday held an extraordinary session chaired by Mokhber, state media reported.
In a statement, the cabinet said the services of “a hero and servant of the nation and a loyal companion to the leadership [Ayatollah Khamenei], will continue” and promised “there will be no slightest disruption” in the country’s management.
Raisi, 63, was elected in 2021 in a vote with a record-low turnout in the country’s history. He had been expected to seek re-election next year. Under Iran’s constitution, an election will now be held within 50 days.
The president showed unconditional loyalty to the ayatollah and maintained close relations with the Revolutionary Guards. After decades of tense relations between Iran’s presidents and the supreme leader over the extent of their powers, Raisi was the first to end these tensions.
