Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi killed in helicopter crash
Al Jazeera
The hardline conservative leader died as his aircraft crashed in a mountainous terrain near the border with Azerbaijan.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has been killed after his helicopter crashed in a remote region of the country.
Raisi’s body was identified early on Monday by rescuers who had begun a search in the mountainous northwest of Iran near the border with Azerbaijan the previous afternoon. A hardline religious conservative, Raisi had long been seen as a potential successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Elected president in 2021, since taking office Raisi had ordered a tightening of morality laws, overseen a crackdown on antigovernment protests, and pushed back hard in talks with world powers regarding international oversight of Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Ali Khamenei, who holds ultimate power, has sought to reassure the country that there will be no disruption to state affairs.
The need to quickly replace the government’s leadership is pressing, with Iran in the midst of heightened tensions in the Middle East.
