President Raisi has been in office since 2021 (File)
New Delhi:
Iran President Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash in East Azerbaijan province on Sunday, Iranian media said. Elections to elect the next President will be held on June 28, it added.
The chopper carrying Iran President Raisi and his foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian had disappeared over a mountainous region
There was “no sign” of life among passengers of the helicopter, Iran’s state television said. “Upon finding the helicopter, there was no sign of the helicopter passengers being alive as of yet,” the state TV said.
This incident follows a period of heightened regional tensions, particularly in light of the Gaza conflict and Iran’s recent escalations with Israel. President Raisi, who has been in office since 2021, has pledged Iran’s steadfast support for Palestine, a stance reiterated during his recent dam inauguration speech.
Iran state media shared videos of the leader on board the chopper on Sunday. The video shows the Iranian leader looking out of an aircraft window as the camera pans to show several senior officials including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian seated opposite him.
Here are the highlights on Iran President’s helicopter crash:
Get NDTV UpdatesTurn on notifications to receive alerts as this story develops.
Iran announced today it will hold presidential elections on June 28, state media reported, following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage in a helicopter crash.
“The election calendar was approved at the meeting of the heads of the judiciary, government, and parliament,” state television said, reported news agency AFP. “According to the initial agreement of the Guardian Council, it was decided that the 14th presidential election will be held on June 28.”
Israel and Hamas on Monday both angrily rejected moves to arrest their leaders for war crimes made before an international court as heavy fighting raged on in the Gaza Strip, reported news agency AFP.
The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor Karim Khan said he had applied for arrest warrants against top Israeli and Hamas leaders over the bloody conflict.
Israel slammed as a “historical disgrace” the demand targeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, while Hamas said it “strongly condemns” the move.
Khan said in a statement that he was seeking warrants against the Israeli leaders for crimes including “wilful killing”, “extermination and/or murder” and “starvation”.
Members of the UN Security Council on Monday observed a minute of silence in memory of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage who were killed in a helicopter crash, reported news agency AFP.
Mozambique Ambassador Pedro Comissario Afonso, who holds the rotating Council presidency in May, asked members to stand up and remain silent “in remembrance of the loss of life in a crash of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raisi” and his team, which took place on Sunday.
The death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash could lead to a period of political instability but is unlikely to change Iran’s foreign policy or its role in the Middle East, analysts said on Monday, reported news agency AFP.
Analysts are betting on the continuity of the Islamic Republic’s foreign policy which is the domain of Ayatollah Khamenei and the secretive Supreme National Security Council.
“A successor may emerge who is as conservative and loyal to the system as Raisi was,” said Ali Vaez, an Iran specialist at the International Crisis Group.
“On foreign policy, the supreme leader and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will continue to dominate strategic decisions”, he said on social media site X, anticipating “more continuity than change”.
Farid Vahid, an Iran expert at the Fondation Jean-Jaures, said that “Raisi was absolutely in lockstep with the Guard Corps”, which “has left a lot of room and freedom for the Guards in the region”.
With Raisi, “decision-making was very fluid because he was completely subservient to the leader”, Vahid told AFP.
“The question for the Iranian conservatives is to find someone who will be elected… and who will not cause them too many problems.”
Iran is scheduled to hold presidential elections within 50 days to replace Raisi, with vice president Mohammad Mokhber, 68, to assume interim duties.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday held a telephone call with Mohammad Mokhber, Iran’s interim head-of-state, hours after he was confirmed in the role following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi, reported news agency AFP.
“The Russian president expressed his deepest condolences to supreme leader Ali Khamenei, Mohammad Mokhber and the entire Iranian people in connection with the tragic death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi,” the Kremlin said in a readout of the call.
Funeral rites for Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage who died in a helicopter crash will start on Tuesday in the northwestern city of Tabriz, state media reported.
“The funeral ceremonies for the president and his companions will take place Tuesday at 9:30 am local time (0600 GMT) in Tabriz”, the official IRNA news agency said, adding that Raisi’s body will later be taken to Tehran, reported news agency AFP.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday hailed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi as an “outstanding politician” and said his death in a helicopter crash was an “irreplaceable loss”, reported news agency AFP.
Iran has become one of Russia’s key political allies since Moscow launched its Ukraine offensive in 2022, with Tehran supplying crucial drone technology.
The NATO military alliance on Monday expressed “condolences” to Iran over the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, reported news agency AFP.
“Our condolences to the people of Iran for the death of President Raisi, Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian, and others who perished in the helicopter crash,” said NATO spokesperson Farah Daklallah on X, the former Twitter.
France extended condolences on Monday to Iran over the death of President Ebrahim Raisi and other officials in a helicopter crash, reported news agency AFP.
“France offers its condolences to the Islamic Republic of Iran following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and those accompanying them,” the foreign ministry said in a statement, also expressing its “condolences to the families of the victims of this accident.”
Lebanon and Syria on Monday announced three days of national mourning for the Iranian president and foreign minister, who were killed in a helicopter crash overnight near the Azerbaijan border, reported news agency Reuters.
Iran enjoys sway in both countries, backing the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in Lebanon and supporting Syria’s government and security forces stay in power throughout more than a decade of war.
Saudi Arabia extended its condolences on Monday to Iran over the death of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, reported news agency AFP.
King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, “offer their condolences to his excellency, the acting head of the executive authority, Mohammad Mokhber, on the death of his excellency Ebrahim Raisi, president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and his companions,” said a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri was appointed Monday as acting foreign minister, a government spokesman said, after the death of Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in a helicopter crash.
Iran-backed members of the “Axis of Resistance” against Israel and its allies expressed their condolences Monday after Tehran confirmed President Ebrahim Raisi had died in a helicopter crash, reported news agency AFP. Palestinian Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, Yemen’s Huthi rebels, the Syrian government, and Iraq-based armed groups all mourned the death of President Raisi and eight others on Sunday.
Iran president Ebrahim Raisi’s death in a helicopter crash is a major blow to the Islamic republic’s clerical leadership, an exiled opposition group said Monday, predicting a succession of crises, reported news agency AFP. The People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) and its political wing the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) have long detested Raisi, accusing him of involvement in the 1988 mass executions of thousands of their members and other dissidents when he was a young prosecutor.
Raisi’s death “represents a monumental and irreparable strategic blow to the mullahs’ supreme leader Ali Khamenei and the entire regime, notorious for its executions and massacres”, NCRI leader Maryam Rajavi said in a statement. “It will trigger a series of repercussions and crises within theocratic tyranny, which will spur rebellious youths into action,” she said.
The Iranian Red Crescent said that the bodies of president Ebrahim Raisi and others who died in a helicopter crash had been recovered, and search operations had ended.
“We are in the process of transferring the bodies of the martyrs to Tabriz” in Iran’s northwest, Red Crescent chief Pirhossein Koolivand told state TV, adding that “the search operations have come to an end.”
Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri appointed acting foreign minister
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis say Raisi death a ‘loss for the Islamic world’
Iran’s three branches of government held an extraordinary meeting on Monday, with First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber representing the executive branch following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, state TV said.
“We will follow the path of President Raisi in fulfilling assigned duties without any interruption,” Mokhber said. The three branches to which state TV referred are the executive, the legislative and the judiciary.
If a president dies in office, the Islamic Republic’s constitution says that the first vice president takes over for an interim period of 50 days, with the approval of the Supreme Leader, who has the final say in all matters of state in Iran.
A new presidential election would be held at the end of the 50 days.
China’s President Xi Jinping on Monday paid tribute to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, describing his “tragic death” in a helicopter crash as “a great loss to the Iranian people”.
Xi sent “sincere condolences” to the Iran’s first vice president, foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a press briefing. “(Raisi’s) tragic death is a great loss to the Iranian people, and the Chinese people have lost a good friend,” Wang quoted Xi as saying.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei assigned vice president Mohammad Mokhber to assume interim duties after the death of president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash a day earlier.
“In accordance with Article 131 of the constitution, Mokhber is in charge of leading the executive branch,” said Khamenei in a statement, adding that Mokhber will be required to work with the heads of legislative and judicial to prepare for presidential elections “within a maximum period of 50 days”.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced on Monday five days of mourning for President Ebrahim Raisi who died in a helicopter crash.
“I announce five days of public mourning and offer my condolences to the dear people of Iran,” said Khamenei in an official statement a day after the death of Raisi and other officials in the crash in East Azerbaijan province.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday hailed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi as an “outstanding politician” and said his death in a helicopter crash was an “irreplaceable loss.”
Turkey on Monday said it was “deeply saddened” by the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.
Turkey “shares the pain of the friendly and brotherly Iranian people,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said.
Raisi, Amir-Abdollahian were Russia’s ‘true friends’, says Russia’s Sergei Lavrov
Palestinian group Hamas and Iran-backed Hezbollah mourns Iran’s Raisi as ‘protector of resistance movements’.
Deeply shocked to hear of the passing away of Iran’s President Dr Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister H. Amir-Abdollahian in the helicopter crash.
Recall my many meetings with them, most recently in January 2024.
Our condolences to their families. We stand with the people of…
– Dr. S. Jaishankar (Modi Ka Parivar) (@DrSJaishankar) May 20, 2024
Deeply saddened and shocked by the tragic demise of Dr. Seyed Ebrahim Raisi, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. His contribution to strengthening India-Iran bilateral relationship will always be remembered. My heartfelt condolences to his family and the people of Iran….
– Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 20, 2024
BREAKING: Iran President Ebrahim Raisi Dies In Chopper Crash: Iranian News Reports
The footage shows the moment the president’s helicopter wreckage was found by the volunteer drone team of the Relief & Rescue Organization of the Red Crescent pic.twitter.com/xJ3qCdUi9t
– IRNA News Agency (@IrnaEnglish) May 20, 2024
