• Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, other officials dead in helicopter crash

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    Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, other officials dead in helicopter crash

    When Raisi's chopper crashed, he was traveling back from a border event with Azerbaijan in a group of three. Rescue teams faced challenging conditions due to the thick fog that had been present in the area. 


    Digital Desk: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi passed away in a helicopter crash in the nation's mountainous area, reports claimed.  

    Rescuers on Monday found the helicopter that had been carrying the president and other officials including Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, who also died, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported. It crashed on Sunday near Tavil village in northwest Iran.

    When Raisi's chopper crashed, he was traveling back from a border event with Azerbaijan in a group of three. Rescue teams faced challenging conditions due to the thick fog that had been present in the area. 

    Iran's media claimed that the Foreign Minister and President Are Dead: TOPLive

    Amidst the unrest in the Middle East, the president passes away. As Israel is in its seventh month of a war to drive Hamas militants, which Iran backs, out of the Gaza Strip, Iran launched an unprecedented missile and drone strike on the Jewish state in April. 

    One of the favorites to succeed Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the long run was Raisi, an ultraconservative cleric in his 60s who won a presidential election in 2021. 

    Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, who was reportedly riding on the president's jet at the time, was among the high-ranking officials that made up Raisi's air force.

    Through a deal mediated by China and announced in March 2023, Raisi and Amirabdollahian both oversaw the restoration of Iran's diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia. However, at that time, talks to resurrect Iran's nuclear agreement with international powers and remove economic sanctions were at a standstill. 

    According to NBC, US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer stated on Sunday that he had been told by intelligence agencies that there is no proof of malicious activity. 

    Live footage of numerous ambulances amid intense rain and fog was earlier shown on Iranian television. In reaction to an Iranian request, the Turkish Ministry of Defense announced that it had sent out an Akinci drone.

    Iran requested assistance, and the European Union responded by activating its fast reaction mapping service, according to a post on X by Janez Lenarčič, the bloc's commissioner for crisis management. 

    In order to officially open a dam that the two nations collaborated on building, Raisi met with Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan earlier on Sunday. 

    Rights organizations have charged Raisi with playing a key role in the 1980s mass murder of thousands of political dissidents. He oversaw a "death commission," according to London-based Amnesty International, which demanded in 2018 that the UN look into his possible crimes against humanity.