By Breaking: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi died tragically in a helicopter crash in a remote area in northwest Iran, according to reports.
Rescue crews found the crash site on Monday morning, more than 12 hours after the president and his foreign minister went missing. “In the collision, President Raisi’s chopper was entirely burned. Sadly, it is believed that every passenger is dead, an official told Reuters.
When the chopper went down, President Raisi, 63, was returning from a visit to the border with Azerbaijan. He was seen as the front-runner to become Iran’s Supreme Leader in place of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The president, the foreign minister of Iran, the governor of the province of East Azerbaijan, and other officials were all on board the helicopter when it crashed on Sunday in cloudy weather.
The incident, which was initially reported as a “hard landing,” led Iran’s army chief of staff to allocate all military and Revolutionary Guard resources to search and rescue operations, which had been impeded by unfavorable weather.
