TEHRAN – Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the country’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian have lost their lives in a helicopter crash, the country’s ambassador to Pakistan confirmed it in a social media post.
Reza Amiri Moghadam, Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan wrote on X, “Utmost dejected & grievously dolorous i have to announce that President Seyed Ebrahim Raisi & FM Hussain Amirabdollahian, embraced Shahadat in consequence to a helicopter crash during a mission to Inaugurate a developmental project with a neighboring country”.
Utmost dejected & grievously dolorous i have to announce that President Seyed Ebrahim Raisi & FM Hussain Amirabdollahian, embraced Shahadat in consequence to a helicopter crash during a mission to Inaugurate a developmental project with a neighboring country. pic.twitter.com/QJndljAKQr
— Reza Amiri Moghadam (@IranAmbPak) May 20, 2024
Earlier, a senior Iranian official on condition of anonymity told Reuters, “President Raisi, the foreign minister and all the passengers in the helicopter were killed in the crash.”
Iran’s Mehr news agency also confirmed it stating that “all passengers of the helicopter” were “martyred”.
The Iranian President’s helicopter crashed over mountains due to inclement weather on Sunday.
As per the media reports, Iranian President, 63, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and other officials were returning after a visit to the border with Azerbaijan.
The official said that bad weather was hampering the search operation. They said that there were still hopes but information from the crash site was concerning.
State television stopped regular transmissions to show prayers being held for Raisi and other officials along with live coverage of search operations in difficult mountain terrain in bad weather.
Earlier, Iran confirmed the rough landing of one of the helicopters in the president’s convoy in East Azerbaijan province. It said that the rescue teams were facing difficulties in reaching the crash site due to inclement weather.
Raisi had inaugurated a dam project on the Iran-Azerbaijan border along with his Azerbaijan counterpart Ilham Aliev.
