Iran’s president and foreign minister killed in helicopter crash
President Raisi was known as the Butcher of Tehran for his role in sentencing thousands of political dissidents to death in the late 1980s
Iran’s president and foreign minister were declared dead by the country’s officials and media on Monday morning following a helicopter crash the previous day.
Vice-president for cxecutive affairs Mohsen Mansouri confirmed that President Ebrahim Raeisi and foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian had died after the crash near the border between Azerbaijan and Iran on Sunday afternoon, leading to a major rescue operation in the dense area.
The crash was initially blamed on bad weather, but the investigation into its cause is ongoing.
Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian had visited Azerbaijan to inaugurate a dam with the country’s president, Ilham Aliyev. They were reportedly warned about the bad weather but decided to fly back to Tehran. The governor of East Azerbaijan province, Malek Rahmati, was also killed in the crash, along with two military officials and the pilots.
Iran will now hold new presidential elections within 50 days.
President Raisi was known as the Butcher of Tehran for his role in sentencing thousands of political dissidents to death in the late 1980s.
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