IRANIAN PRESIDENT EBRAHIM RAISI KILLED IN CHOPPER CRASH

IRANIAN President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday was killed in a helicopter crash in the mountains near the Azerbaijan border.

Raisi was a hardliner and the potential successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The charred wreckage of the helicopter, which crashed on Sunday carrying Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and six other passengers and crew, was found early on Monday.

The crash was blamed on poor weather condition in the area.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters that the 63-year-old Iranian president,  the foreign minister and all the passengers in the helicopter were killed in the crash,.

The dead also included the governor of East Azerbaijan province and a senior imam from Tabriz City.

The Iranian president’s death was later confirmed in a statement on social media by Vice President Mohsen Mansouri and on state television.

IRNA news agency reported said  that First Vice President  Mohammad Mokhber would take over as interim president.

“I announce five days of public mourning and offer my condolences to the dear people of Iran,” Khamenei said in a statement.

Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani was appointed as acting foreign minister following the death of Amirabdollahian, IRNA said.

State media reported that images from the site showed the U.S.-made Bell 212 helicopter slammed into a mountain peak.

Footage from Iranian state television showed wreckage scattered on a foggy hillside while separate images from IRNA showed Red Crescent workers carrying a covered body on a stretcher.

Raisi and his companions came from an official visit to the border with Azerbaijan in Iran’s northwest when they met their tragic death.