Important Takeaways:
- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash in the country’s northwest on Sunday, Iranian state media agencies and government officials reported on Monday morning.
- Raisi’s death was reported along with the deaths of Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, among others. According to Mehr, all passengers on board were killed.
- The other officials who were killed include Seyyed Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, the Islamic Republic’s representative to the East Azerbaijan province, and Malek Rahmati, the province’s governor. The aircraft’s pilot and co-pilot were also killed.
- The semi-official Iranian Tasnim news agency noted that identification efforts of the bodies found at the crash site were ongoing.
- Details about the incident remained unclear. Sunday reports said the president’s helicopter suffered a “hard landing” in foggy weather. As night fell, the search became even more difficult.
- IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency said emergency services were conducting searches to find the helicopter, but the weather and 70-meter-tall boulders in the area were complicating the search efforts. Over 40 rescue teams were operating in the area.
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