World reacts to the death of Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi
Al Jazeera
‘It wasn’t us!’, declares Israel as condolences pour in from around the globe following the news of Raisi’s death.
World leaders have expressed their condolences on the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.
Rescue teams began searching for Raisi on Sunday afternoon after his aircraft, which also carried nine other officials, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, went missing in Iran’s mountainous northwestern region near the Azerbaijan border.
On Monday morning, relief workers located the missing helicopter. State TV reported that the president’s body and that of the others on board had been identified.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will now need to move quickly to replace the country’s leadership, with Tehran navigating heightened tensions in the Middle East and the risk of open conflict with Israel.
Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has sparked lower-level conflicts with Iran-backed groups, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. Last month, Iran and Israel swapped direct strikes at one another.
