Iran mourns the death of President Ebrahim Raisi, new elections to be held on June 28th

Iranians rushed to a square in Tehran on Monday to mourn the death of President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed when his helicopter crashed into a fog-shrouded mountain. His death ushered in a period of political uncertainty not only in Iran but also in West Asia.

Raisi, 63, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdullahian and seven others were killed when a plane crashed in a remote area of ​​northwestern Iran on Sunday. The plane’s wreckage was only discovered on Monday morning.

During Raisi’s tenure, which began in 2021, Iran has been rocked by mass protests, an economic crisis exacerbated by U.S. sanctions has engulfed the West Asian country, and there have been armed exchanges with arch-rival Israel.

He was very close to Ayatollah Khamenei, the ultra-conservative supreme leader who wields supreme power in Iran. Ayatollah Khameni declared five days of mourning and said Vice President Mohammad Mokbel, 68, would take over as interim president until elections are held within 50 days.

Iranian state media reported that new elections will be held on June 28.

The Iranian government has appointed Ali Bagheri, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, as acting foreign minister.

“The Iranian state has lost a loyal and valuable servant,” said the 85-year-old Ayatollah Khamenei, who many had hoped Raisi would someday succeed.

Iranian military chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri has ordered an investigation into the cause of the helicopter crash that killed the president and his aides.

Thousands of mourners gathered in Valiasl Square in central Tehran to pay their respects to Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdullahian.

Raisi’s body will first be taken to Tabriz, East Azerbaijan, and then to Mashhad, where Raisi was born. A funeral will be held in Tehran.

Iran’s military chief of staff, Mohammad Bagheri, ordered a “high-level committee to launch an investigation into the cause of the presidential helicopter crash.”

Global allies Russia, China and regional powers expressed condolences, as did NATO, and the United Nations Security Council observed a moment of silence. India also expressed its condolences and announced a day of national mourning as a show of respect.

Condolences were received from all members of the so-called Axis of Resistance against Israel and its allies, including the Palestinian organization Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Syria, amid heightened tensions over the Gaza war.

The United States also expressed its condolences in a statement released by the U.S. State Department early Monday morning (local time). The U.S. government had blacklisted Raisi, a former attorney general, for complicity in “serious human rights violations.”

search and rescue mission

Iranian authorities first raised the alarm on Sunday afternoon when they lost contact with Raisi’s helicopter as he returned from a border meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to prepare for the dam’s opening.

Only two of the convoy’s three helicopters landed in Tabriz, and a massive search and rescue operation was launched, with multiple foreign governments soon offering assistance.

Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi initially spoke of a “hard landing” and called on people to ignore hostile foreign media channels and get their information “only from state television.”

As the Red Crescent team trudged up the steep hillside in the rain, security, military and police personnel joined in the search, and a convoy of ambulances waited nearby.

As the sun rose on Monday, rescuers found the destroyed Bell 212 helicopter but announced there were no survivors.

State television reported that the plane “collided with a mountain and disintegrated” upon impact, and the Red Crescent quickly confirmed that “the search operation has ended.”