Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, FM Hossein Amir-Abdollahian among 9 killed in helicopter crash

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian were killed alongside seven other individuals, including officials and aviation crew, in a helicopter crash that took place on Sunday in the north of Iran.

The helicopter crashed in Varzaqan, an area in East Azerbaijan province near the Iranian-Azeri border, as Raisi, Abdollahian and the other seven people on board were returning from an official visit to Azerbaijan.

Iranian state media said the crash was mainly due to poor weather conditions in northern Iran, which also delayed rescue operations. 

Former Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif also pointed a finger at the decades-long United States sanctions on “aircraft and aviation parts to Iran” as a factor in causing the crash. The helicopter that carried Raisi was reported to be a Bell 212, a model developed by the US in the 1960s and used by the Canadian military at the time. 

This is not the first time Iranian officials have died in a plane or helicopter crash since the start of US and international sanctions on Iran.

The helicopter, one of three in a convoy, was first reported to have made a “hard landing” on Sunday night after facing difficulties while Raisi was heading to Tabriz, in the northwest of Iran, after returning from the border with Azerbaijan, where he inaugurated the jointly-built Qiz Qalasi dam with Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev.

Rescue workers struggled to reach the mountainous and wooded area amid heavy fog and harsh weather conditions, with Turkey, Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia offering to support the rescue mission. The crash site and bodies were finally located on Monday morning, according to the Iranian Islamic Republic News Agency.

As per the Iranian constitution, Vice President Mohammad Mokhber will take over the duties of the president and will work together with the heads of parliament and the judiciary to organize a presidential election within the next 50 days.

Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani has also been appointed as acting foreign minister to replace Abdollahian.

Raisi was a conservative cleric and former head of the judiciary who was close to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He was elected president of Iran in 2021 in his second attempt and was expected to become the successor of Khamenei as supreme leader. His time in office saw wide anti-government protests in 2022.

Khamenei has announced five days of mourning in Iran following Raisi’s death, and the funeral will be held on Tuesday in Tabriz.

States in the region, including Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, have expressed their condolences to Iran for the crash.

Regional groups connected to Iran, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, also mourned the death of Raisi in public statements.