Iranian state television announced that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian were killed in a helicopter crash.
There are no signs of life at the crash site of the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and a delegation, Iranian state television announced earlier this morning after the location was discovered with the help of the Akinci drone.
The helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi reportedly made a “hard landing” yesterday due to weather conditions while returning from the dam opening ceremony on the border with Azerbaijan.
East Azerbaijan Deputy Governor Jabbarali Zakiri said two of the three helicopters in Raisi’s convoy had landed, while one had crashed.
At the time of the accident, Raisi was accompanied by Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Governor of East Azerbaijan Malik Rehmati and leader of Friday prayers in the city of Tabriz Ayatollah Al-Hashem.
Due to the difficult weather conditions on the ground, Iran requested the help of Turkey, within the framework of which the unmanned aerial vehicle Akinci was sent, which returned to its regular tasks after the helicopter wreckage.
-Political journey of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi-
Known as a jurist and religious figure, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash on Sunday, was born on December 14, 1960 in Mashhad.
A former head of the judiciary, Raisi was Iran’s eighth president. The former prosecutor and judge was elected to the position of president in 2021.
After the Iranian Revolution of 1979, he began his career as a prosecutor in 1981. Rising quickly through the ranks, Raisi became Tehran’s deputy chief prosecutor at the age of 25.
He was part of a four-member committee that, under the instructions of Iran’s revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, imposed death sentences on opponents of the regime imprisoned in 1988.
After Khomeini’s death and during Ali Khamenei’s tenure, Raisi rose rapidly through the ranks. He was the chief prosecutor of Tehran from 1989 to 1994.
In 1994, Raisi was appointed head of the State Inspectorate Organization, a position he held for ten years.
In 2004, Raisi was appointed as the first deputy head of the judiciary. He later became Iran’s attorney general in 2014, and in 2016 Khamenei appointed him head of the Imam Reza Shrine and Foundation in Mashhad.
Raisi also ran in the presidential elections held on May 19, 2017, but lost to then-current president Hassan Rouhani.
After Khamenei dismissed Ayatollah Amoli Larijani as head of the judiciary and appointed him head of the Expediency Assessment Council, Raisi took over the vacant post of head of the judiciary in March 2019.
In the presidential election held on June 18, 2021, Raisi won by a wide margin, securing 62 percent of the vote, becoming the eighth president of Iran.
–Who was Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian-
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, known for his conservative position, became Iran’s foreign minister in August 2021, succeeding Mohammad Javad Zarif, whose deputy he served for three years.
Amir-Abdollahian was born in 1964 and graduated from Tehran University with a degree in International Relations in 1991.
He knew Persian, Arabic and English. He was the ambassador to Bahrain during the term of office of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Amir-Abdollahian later served as Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs during the terms of both Ahmadinejad and Hassan Rouhani.
Before becoming the Minister of Foreign Affairs, he held the position of Special Assistant for International Relations to the Speaker of the Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
During his tenure as foreign minister, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to restore diplomatic relations and reopen embassies in March 2023 after seven years of tensions between the two countries, AA writes.
