Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the countryâs foreign minister and others have been found dead at the site of a helicopter crash Monday after an hourslong search through a foggy, mountainous region of the countryâs northwest, state media reported. Raisi was 63.
The crash comes as the Middle East remains unsettled by the Israel-Hamas war, during which Raisi, who was 63, under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel just last month.
During Raisi's term in office, Iran enriched uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels, further escalating tensions with the West as Tehran also supplied bomb-carrying drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine and armed militia groups across the region.
Meanwhile, Iran has faced years of mass protests against its Shiite theocracy over its ailing economy and womenâs rights â making the moment that much more sensitive for Tehran and the future of the country.
State TV gave no immediate cause for the crash in Iranâs East Azerbaijan province. Among the dead was Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, 60.
Get Tri-state area news delivered to your inbox.> Sign up for NBC New York's News Headlines newsletter.
The helicopter also carried the governor of Iranâs East Azerbaijan province and other officials and bodyguards, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
Early Monday morning, Turkish authorities released what they described as drone footage showing what appeared to be a fire in the wilderness that they âsuspected to be wreckage of helicopter.â The coordinates listed in the footage put the fire some 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the Azerbaijan-Iranian border on the side of a steep mountain.
Footage released by the IRNA early Monday showed what the agency described as the crash site, across a steep valley in a green mountain range. Soldiers speaking in the local Azeri language said: âThere it is, we found it.â
Khamenei himself had urged the public to pray Sunday night.
âWe hope that God the Almighty returns the dear president and his colleagues in full health to the arms of the nation,â Khamenei said, drawing an âamenâ from the worshipers he was addressing.
However, the supreme leader also stressed the business of Iranâs government would continue no matter what. Under the Iranian constitution, Iranâs vice first president takes over if the president dies, with Khameneiâs assent, and a new presidential election would be called within 50 days.
First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber already had begun receiving calls from officials and foreign governments in Raisiâs absence, state media reported. An emergency meeting of Iran's Cabinet was ongoing as state media made the announcement Monday morning.
Raisi, 63, a hard-liner who formerly led the countryâs judiciary, was viewed as a protĂ©gĂ© of Khamenei and some analysts had suggested he could replace the 85-year-old leader after Khameneiâs death or resignation.
With Raisi's death, the only other person so far suggested has been Mojtaba Khameini, the 55-year-old son to the supreme leader. However, some have raised concerns over the position being taken only for the third time since 1979 to a family member, particularly after the Islamic Revolution overthrew the hereditary Pahlavi monarchy of the shah.
Raisi won Iranâs 2021 presidential election, a vote that saw the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republicâs history. Raisi is sanctioned by the U.S. in part over his involvement in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 at the end of the bloody Iran-Iraq war.
Under Raisi, Iran now enriches uranium at nearly weapons-grade levels and hampers international inspections. Iran has armed Russia in its war on Ukraine, as well as launched a massive drone-and-missile attack on Israel amid its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It also has continued arming proxy groups in the Mideast, like Yemenâs Houthi rebels and Lebanonâs Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, mass protests in the country have raged for years. The most recent involved the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who had been earlier detained over allegedly not wearing a hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of authorities. The monthslong security crackdown that followed the demonstrations killed more than 500 people and saw over 22,000 detained.
In March, a United Nations investigative panel found that Iran was responsible for the âphysical violenceâ that led to Aminiâs death.
Raisi is the second Iranian president to die in office. In 1981, a bomb blast killed President Mohammad Ali Rajai in the chaotic days after the revolution.
___
Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.