Following Tehran's early Monday confirmation of the deaths of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, 63, along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and other officials after their helicopter went down over mountainous terrain near the border with Azerbaijan, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has named a new acting president of the Islamic Republic.
Vice President Mohammad Mokhber has assume interim duties in the wake of Raisi's death. Additionally, Iran’s nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri, has been named acting foreign minister. This follows a Sunday statement by Khamenei assuring the public that there would be continuity and stability in the nation's leadership. Iranians have taken to the streets in what's expected to be several days of a national mourning period.
Bodies of the deceased were hiked out of the remote region of the crash. They had to be physically carried on stretchers by rescuers who spent hours reaching the site amid difficult Sunday and overnight weather conditions.
State media has since indicated that aboard the presidential helicopter were nine people in total, including body guards and clerics. Their aging Bell helicopter had reportedly "hit a mountain and disintegrated" amid high fog, low visibility conditions. This was not at all the "hard landing" the world was initially informed about Sunday via state officials and media.
Iranian rescue teams now transfer the bodies of Iranian officials, including President Raisi and Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian, to the downstream areas from the helicopter crash site. pic.twitter.com/GZ5KqWemZP
— Clash Report (@clashreport) May 20, 2024
