Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has died after a helicopter crash in northwestern Iran, a number of information businesses reported, citing Iranian state media.
Inside Minister Ahmed Vahidi informed IRNA, Iran’s state-run information company, {that a} helicopter carrying Raisi and different senior Iranian officers was compelled to make a “onerous touchdown” on Sunday, with out offering additional particulars.
Heavy fog and dangerous climate — and finally night-time circumstances — prevented rescue personnel from instantly reaching the scene, which led to a number of hours of uncertainty concerning the president’s standing. It stays unclear what brought on the crash.
Iran’s overseas minister, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, and different officers had been additionally on board the helicopter. The high-level Iranian delegation was coming back from a ceremony marking a dam opening close to Azerbaijan’s border. IRNA reported that two different helicopters carrying ministers and different officers who attended the ceremony reached their locations safely.
Iran’s vp, Mohammad Mokhber, is subsequent in line for the presidency. In line with Al Jazeera, Mokhber will take over till new elections will be held.
Who was Ebrahim Raisi?
Iran elected Raisi, 63, in 2021 after an election that noticed the bottom voter turnout within the nation’s historical past, in keeping with the Related Press.
Raisi is taken into account a “hard-liner” and a “protégé” of Iranian Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Some analysts have urged Raisi may even substitute Kahmenei after his demise or resignation, in keeping with the Related Press.
Raisi has led Iran by heightened tensions within the area, together with the battle between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
“Our coronary heart is with the Iranian nation as a good friend and brother,” Hamas mentioned in an announcement on Sunday, in keeping with Iran’s state-run information company.
In April, Iran launched a barrage of missiles towards Israel in an unprecedented direct assault. Most of these assaults had been intercepted and in the end brought on little injury. It was a response to Israel’s assault on an Iranian consulate constructing in Damascus on April 1, which killed a number of high-level Iranian commanders.
The US sanctioned Raisi in 2019 for human rights violations for his position within the “demise fee” that ordered the execution of 1000’s of political prisoners within the late Eighties.
Throughout this period, Iran subjected 1000’s of political dissidents to detention amenities throughout the nation, executing lots of them after an order from the Supreme Chief of Iran, The US Institute of Peace reported.
Raisi was reportedly considered one of 4 members of the fee that subjected many of those prisoners to “torture and different merciless, inhuman or degrading therapy or punishment,” the report says.
Raisi has additionally offered arms to Russia throughout its invasion of Ukraine. A number of studies of assaults inside Kyiv have indicated the presence of Iranian-made “Shahed” drones utilized by Russian forces.
