President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, was killed in a helicopter crash in mountainous terrain near the Azerbaijan border, officials and state media said on Monday.
The charred wreckage of the helicopter, which crashed on Sunday carrying Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, was found early on Monday after an overnight search in blizzard conditions.
“President Raisi, the foreign minister, and all the passengers in the helicopter were killed in the crash,” a senior Iranian official told Reuters, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Raisi’s death was later confirmed in a statement on social media by Vice President Mohsen Mansouri and on state television.
State TV, IRNA reported that images from the site showed the aircraft had slammed into a mountain peak, although there was no official word on the cause of the crash.
Raisi, 63, was flying in a U.S.-made Bell 212 helicopter. He was elected president in 2021, and since taking office has ordered a tightening of morality laws, overseen a crackdown on anti-government protests and pushed hard in nuclear talks with world powers.
Earlier, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has a final say on foreign policy and Iran’s nuclear programme reassured Iranians, adding that there would be no disruption to state affairs.