Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi killed in helicopter crash

Iran President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian have been confirmed dead.

The Iranian President died along with seven others in a helicopter crash that came down in bad weather in the North Western Iran, state TV says.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was also killed in Sunday’s crash, along with several others

The helicopter, one of three travelling in a convoy, crashed after it got into difficulties in heavy fog in the north of the country.

Raisi was heading to the city of Tabriz, in the north west of Iran, after returning from an Iran-Azerbaijan border area, according to local media.

According to Iran State News Agency, also on board were Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Al-e Hashem, the imam for Friday prayers in the city of Tabriz, and General Malek Rahmati, the governor of the Iranian province of East Azerbaijan.

The commander of the president’s protection unit, Sardar Seyed Mehdi Mousavi, was also killed, as were a number of bodyguards and helicopter crew who have not yet been named.

President Raisi a hardline cleric close to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was born in 1960 in Mashhad, home to Iran’s holiest Shia Muslim shrine.

He took part in protests against the Western-backed Shah, who was toppled in 1979, while a student and went on to become the deputy prosecutor in Tehran at just 25.

Raisi succeeded Hassan Rouhani as president in 2021 after a poll which saw many prominent moderate and reformist candidates barred and the majority of voters stay away.

He was being seen as one who would have one day succeeded Ayatollah Khamenei as Supreme Leader.