20 May 2024

Iran President Ebrahim Raisi, supreme leader's protégé, dies at 63 in helicopter crash

5:24 pm on 20 May 2024
In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, President Ebrahim Raisi attends the inauguration ceremony of dam of Qiz Qalasi, or Castel of Girl in Azeri, at the border of Iran and Azerbaijan with his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev, Sunday, May 19, 2024. A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi suffered a "hard landing" on Sunday, Iranian state media reported, without immediately elaborating. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)

Under Ebrahim Raisi, Iran enriched uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels, further escalating tensions with the West. Photo: AP / Iran Presidency Office

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country's foreign minister and others have been found dead at the site of a helicopter crash on Monday after an hours-long search through a foggy, mountainous region of the country's northwest, state media reported. Raisi was 63.

The crash comes as the Middle East remains unsettled by the Israel-Hamas war, during which Raisi under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel just last month.

Under Raisi, Iran enriched uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels, further escalating tensions with the West as Tehran also supplied bomb-carrying drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine and armed militia groups across the region.

Meanwhile, Iran has faced years of mass protests against its Shiite theocracy over its ailing economy and women's rights - making the moment that much more sensitive for Tehran and the future of the country.

State TV gave no immediate cause for the crash in Iran's East Azerbaijan province. Among the dead was Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, 60.

With Raisi were Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran's East Azerbaijan province and other officials and bodyguards, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

This frame grab from video released by the Iranian Red Crescent on May 20, 2024 shows members of a search and rescue team in Iran's East Azerbaijan province where Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi's helicopter was involved in "an accident". Rescue teams in northwest Iran early May 20 located the missing helicopter carrying President Ebrahim Raisi but no signs of life had been detected so far, state TV reported. (Photo by Handout / Iranian Red Crescent / AFP)

This frame grab from video released by the Iranian Red Crescent on May 20, 2024 shows members of a search and rescue team in Iran's East Azerbaijan province where Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi's helicopter was involved in "an accident". Photo: Iranian Red Crescent / AFP

Early on Monday morning, Turkish authorities released what they described as drone footage showing what appeared to be a fire in the wilderness that they "suspected to be wreckage of helicopter." The coordinates listed in the footage put the fire some 20km south of the Azerbaijan-Iranian border on the side of a steep mountain.

Footage released by the IRNA early Monday showed what the agency described as the crash site, across a steep valley in a green mountain range. Soldiers speaking in the local Azeri language said: "There it is, we found it."

This frame grab from video released by the Iranian Red Crescent on May 20, 2024 shows a screen display showing a video showing the crash site of the missing helicopter carrying President Ebrahim Raisi in East Azerbaijan province. Rescue teams in northwest Iran early Monday located the missing helicopter carrying President Ebrahim Raisi but no signs of life had been detected so far, state TV reported. (Photo by Handout / Iranian Red Crescent / AFP) / - Israel OUT / -----EDITORS NOTE --- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / IRANIAN RED CRESCENT " - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS NO ARCHIVES

NO Access Israel Media/Persian Language TV Stations Outside Iran
/Strictly No Access BBC Persian/
VOA Persian/Manoto TV/Iran International
/ Radio Farda /

This frame grab on May 20, 2024 shows a screen display showing a video of the crash site of the helicopter carrying President Ebrahim Raisi in East Azerbaijan province. Photo: AFP / Iranian Red Crescent / Handout

Khamenei himself urged the public to pray Sunday night.

"We hope that God the Almighty returns the dear president and his colleagues in full health to the arms of the nation," Khamenei said, drawing an "amen" from the worshipers he was addressing.

However, the supreme leader also stressed the business of Iran's government would continue no matter what. Under the Iranian constitution, Iran's vice first president takes over if the president dies with Khamenei's assent, and a new presidential election would be called within 50 days.

First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber already had begun receiving calls from officials and foreign governments in Raisi's absence, state media reported.

Low turnout at presidential vote

Raisi, 63, a hard-liner who formerly led the country's judiciary, was viewed as a protégé of Khamenei and some analysts suggested he could have replaced the 85-year-old leader after Khamenei's death or resignation.

Raisi won Iran's 2021 presidential election, a vote that saw the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic's history. Raisi was sanctioned by the US in part over his involvement in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 at the end of the bloody Iran-Iraq war.

Under Raisi, Iran now enriches uranium at nearly weapons-grade levels and hampers international inspections. Iran has armed Russia in its war on Ukraine, as well as launched a massive drone-and-missile attack on Israel amid its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It also has continued arming proxy groups in the Mideast, like Yemen's Houthi rebels and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, mass protests in the country have raged for years. The most recent involved the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who had been earlier detained over allegedly not wearing a hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of authorities. The months-long security crackdown that followed the demonstrations killed more than 500 people and saw over 22,000 detained.

In March, a United Nations investigative panel found that Iran was responsible for the "physical violence" that led to Amini's death.

-AP

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