Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi and foreign minister killed in helicopter crash – live updates | Iran

Spread the love


Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi killed in helicopter crash – what we know

  • Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi has been killed in a helicopter crash near Iran’s border with Azerbaijan. Search and rescue teams have recovered bodies from the wreckage, and said there were no survivors. Contact had been lost with the aircraft on Sunday as it navigated fog-covered mountains in north-west Iran.

  • Foreign minister Hossein Amir-abdollahian was also among those killed. The governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and other officials and bodyguards were also named by local media as among the dead. A total of nine people were on board the aircraft, according to Tasnim news agency.

  • Iran’s vice-president, Mohammad Mokhber is expected to become the country’s interim president who will help organise a presidential election that should take place within 50 days of the president’s death.

  • World leaders, including China’s president Xi Jinping, Russian president Vladmir Putin and Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have all offered condolences to Iran on the death of the 63-year-old hardline cleric who became Iran’s president in June 2021. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Raisi had been a “true, reliable friend” of Russia.

  • Raisi had been in Azerbaijan early on Sunday to inaugurate a dam with the country’s president, Ilham Aliyev. The dam is the third that the two nations have built on the Aras River.

  • An Israeli source, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, ruled out Israel’s involvement. In April Iran launched an unprecedented direct attack on Israel, authorised by Raisi, which it said was in retaliation for what it considered to be an Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic building in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

  • Lebanon has declared three days of mourning. Both Hamas and Hezbollah have also issued statements offering condolences to Iran.

Share

Updated at 

Key events

Lili Bayer

Lili Bayer

Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, is among the first European leaders to comment on the helicopter crash in Iran which has killed president Ebrahim Raisi and foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

Duda cited the 2010 Smolensk plane crash, which killed 96 people, including the then-Polish president Lech Kaczyński, and wrote that Poles know the feeling of shock after the sudden loss of political leaders. He said “Therefore, with special understanding, we join the relatives of the victims and the Iranian nation in prayer and grief.”

Jestem głęboko poruszony wiadomością o tragicznej śmierci Prezydenta Iranu Pana Ebrahima Raisiego wraz z delegacją rządową, w katastrofie lotniczej.
Niewiele narodów ma w swojej historii takie tragiczne karty. Ale my, Polacy, straszliwie doświadczeni w 2010 roku katastrofą…

— Andrzej Duda (@AndrzejDuda) May 20, 2024

Share

Iran declares five days of mourning as Mohammad Mokhber appointed interim head of executive branch

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei announced five days of public mourning for president Ebrahim Raisi after his death in a helicopter crash and confirmed Mohammad Mokhber as interim head of the country’s executive branch.

Iran now has a maximum period of 50 days before a presidential election must be held to choose Raisi’s successor, Reuters reports.

“I announce five days of public mourning and offer my condolences to the dear people of Iran,” Khamenei said in a statement carried by the official news agency IRNA.

“Mokhber will manage the executive branch and is obliged to arrange with the heads of the legislative and judicial branches to elect a new president within a maximum of 50 days,” he said.

A file photo of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

According to Article 131 of Iran’s constitution, a council consisting of the first vice president, the speaker of parliament and the head of the judiciary must prepare the way for the election of a new president.

Mokhber, like Raisi was, is seen as close to Khamenei.

A file photo of Mohammad Mokhber who has been appointed interim leader of the executive branch of Tehran’s government. Photograph: Dmitry Astakhov/AP
Share
Lili Bayer

Lili Bayer

Janez Lenarčič, the European commissioner for crisis management, has defended the bloc’s decision to provide satellite mapping assistance to Iran.

“The provision of a Copernicus EMS satellite mapping upon request for facilitating a search and rescue operation is not an act of political support to any regime or establishment. It is simply an expression of the most basic humanity,” he wrote on social media.

The provision of a @CopernicusEMS satellite mapping upon request for facilitating a search and rescue operation is not an act of political support to any regime or establishment. It is simply an expression of the most basic humanity.

— Janez Lenarčič (@JanezLenarcic) May 20, 2024

Yesterday, Lenarčič, said the EU had activated the Copernicus rapid response mapping system in response to a request for assistance from Iran, using the hashtag “EUSolidarity”. The post elicited criticism, with Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders responding: “EU solidarity with evil.”

Share
Bethan McKernan

Bethan McKernan

Israel has not formally commented on the deaths of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi and foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, but unnamed officials have stressed to news outlets that the country was not involved.

Israel’s spy agency, the Mossad, has been blamed for several assassinations and bombings inside Iran in recent years, and its air force has bombed Iranian assets in Lebanon and Syria, but the country rarely comments on such activity.

Israel’s analysis so far appears to be that the unexpected demise of the two top regime figures is unlikely to significantly alter its long-running cold war with Tehran: the Islamic Republic’s foreign, defence and nuclear policies are ultimately the purview of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Internal power struggles created by the sudden vacuum, however, could draw Tehran’s attention away from the war in Gaza. Iran-allied groups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen have all attacked Israel with drones or rockets since the war broke out last year, and a war of attrition with the powerful Tehran-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah is simmering on Israel’s northern border.

“This is not bad news for Israel. However, events in Iran will probably move at a different pace than those around us. Under a positive scenario, initially, the government in Tehran may be more concerned with internal matters and will put less pressure on Hezbollah to maintain an active military front against the Israel Defense Forces,” Amos Harel, a military analyst, wrote in leftwing daily Haaretz.

Last month Iran launched an unprecedented direct missile and drone attack on Israel, authorised by Raisi, which it said was in retaliation for an Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic building in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

Share

Ali Bagheri Kani, formerly deputy foreign minister, is reported by Iranian media to have been appointed foreign minister, to replace Hossein Amir-Abdollahian who was killed in yesterday’s helicopter crash. Bagheri Kani has previously acted as Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator.

File photo of Ali Bagheri Kani, pictured in 2021. Photograph: Fernando Alvarado/EPA

More details soon …

Share

Iran has declared five days of national mourning, local media reports.

Share

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi killed in helicopter crash – what we know

  • Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi has been killed in a helicopter crash near Iran’s border with Azerbaijan. Search and rescue teams have recovered bodies from the wreckage, and said there were no survivors. Contact had been lost with the aircraft on Sunday as it navigated fog-covered mountains in north-west Iran.

  • Foreign minister Hossein Amir-abdollahian was also among those killed. The governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and other officials and bodyguards were also named by local media as among the dead. A total of nine people were on board the aircraft, according to Tasnim news agency.

  • Iran’s vice-president, Mohammad Mokhber is expected to become the country’s interim president who will help organise a presidential election that should take place within 50 days of the president’s death.

  • World leaders, including China’s president Xi Jinping, Russian president Vladmir Putin and Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have all offered condolences to Iran on the death of the 63-year-old hardline cleric who became Iran’s president in June 2021. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Raisi had been a “true, reliable friend” of Russia.

  • Raisi had been in Azerbaijan early on Sunday to inaugurate a dam with the country’s president, Ilham Aliyev. The dam is the third that the two nations have built on the Aras River.

  • An Israeli source, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, ruled out Israel’s involvement. In April Iran launched an unprecedented direct attack on Israel, authorised by Raisi, which it said was in retaliation for what it considered to be an Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic building in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

  • Lebanon has declared three days of mourning. Both Hamas and Hezbollah have also issued statements offering condolences to Iran.

Share

Updated at 

More world leaders have been offering their condolences to Iran after the country’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, was killed in a helicopter crash yesterday. The crash happened in a remote area near Iran’s border with Azerbaijan, and also killed foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian among other officials.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Turkey stood by Iran at this difficult time, saying “As a colleague who personally witnessed his efforts for the peace of the Iranian people and our region during his time in power, I remember Mr. Raisi with respect and gratitude.”

China’s foreign ministry said that president Xi Jinping had expressed his condolences, and Tass reports that Russia’s president Vladimir Putin had sent a message to Iran which said:

Please accept our deepest condolences in connection with the enormous tragedy that befell the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran – the plane crash that claimed the life of president Ebrahim Raisi, as well as the lives of a number of other prominent statesmen of your country.

Earlier, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Raisi had been a “true, reliable friend” of Russia.

Share

Here are some of the latest images sent to us from Iran and Pakistan after Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi and foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian were killed in a helicopter crash near Iran’s border with Azerbaijan.

A newspaper with a picture of the late Ebrahim Raisi is seen in Tehran, 20 May. Photograph: Majid Asgaripour/Reuters
This grab taken from handout video footage released by the Iranian Red Crescent on 20 May shows rescuers recovering bodies at the site of the helicopter crash. Photograph: Iranian Red Crescent/AFP/Getty Images
Another grab taken from handout video footage released by the Iranian Red Crescent shows search and rescue teams at work. Photograph: Iranian Red Crescent/AFP/Getty Images
The Iranian national flag flies at half-mast at the Iranian consulate in Hyderabad, Pakistan. Photograph: Nadeem Khawer/EPA
Share

Away from Iran for a second, Reuters reports that Qatar’s minister of state at the foreign ministry, Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, said on Monday that there was no political will for a ceasefire deal while Israeli troops remain on the ground in Gaza.

Share

Lebanon has announced three days of national mourning for Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi.

Share

Reuters is reporting that an Israeli official has told the news agency it was not involved in the helicopter crash which has killed Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi.

Israel rarely officially comments on its activities outside its border, which in recent months have included strikes inside Lebanon, Syria and Iran.

In April Iran launched an unprecedented direct attack on Israel, authorised by Raisi, which it said was in retaliation for what it considered to be an Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic building in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on 1 April that killed a senior figure in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards and eight other officers.

Share

Russia’s Lavrov: Raisi was a ‘true reliable friend’ of Russia

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has said Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi had been a “true, reliable friend” of Russia, Reuters reports.

It quotes Lavrov saying:

In Russia, the president of Iran Ebrahim Raisi and the minister of foreign affairs of Iran Hossein Amir-Abdollahian were known as true, reliable friends of our country. Their role in strengthening mutually beneficial Russian-Iranian cooperation and trusting partnership is invaluable. We sincerely extend our condolences to the families and friends of the victims, as well as to the entire friendly people of Iran. Our thoughts and hearts are with you in this sad hour.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian receives his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov at the foreign ministry headquarters in Iran’s capital Tehran in June 2022. Photograph: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images
Share
Lili Bayer

Lili Bayer

While the president of the European Council has offered “sincere condolences” to Iran on the death of Ebrahim Raisi [See 7.39 BST], by contrast Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders posted on social media this morning that “I hope Iran will soon become a secular state again, with freedom for the Iranian people, and without an oppressive and barbaric Islamic mullah regime.”

I hope #Iran will soon become a secular state again, with #freedom for the Iranian people and without an oppressive and barbaric Islamic mullah regime.

— Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) May 20, 2024

Share

Hamas has issued a statement thanking Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi and foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian for their support in its war against Israel after their deaths yesterday. Reuters reports the group said:

These leaders supported the legitimate struggle of our people against the Zionist entity, provided valued support to the Palestinian resistance, and made tireless efforts in solidarity and support in all forums and fields for our people in the steadfast Gaza Strip. They also made significant political and diplomatic efforts to stop the Zionist aggression against our Palestinian people.

Share
Lili Bayer

Lili Bayer

The European Council president, Charles Michel, said this morning that “the EU expresses its sincere condolences for the death of president Ebrahim Raisi and foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, as well as other members of their delegation and crew in a helicopter accident.”

“Our thoughts go to the families,” he added.

The EU expresses its sincere condolences for the death of President Raisi and Foreign Minister Abdollahian, as well as other members of their delegation and crew in a helicopter accident. Our thoughts go to the families.

— Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) May 20, 2024

Share





Source link