Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister have been killed in a helicopter crash, state media has reported, after search teams located the wreckage.
According to ABC News, President Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian were travelling in heavy fog after visiting a dam on the country’s border with Azerbaijan when the helicopter suffered what state media described as a “hard landing” on Sunday, local time.
A Turkish drone located the crash site in the mountainous terrain of Iran’s province, East Azerbaijan early on Monday using thermal imaging technology.
State media said images from the site showed the helicopter crashed into a mountain peak, although there was no official word yet on the cause of the crash.
Mr Raisi, 63, was elected president in 2021, and since taking office has ordered a tightening of morality laws, overseen a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests and pushed hard in nuclear talks with world powers.
Source: ABC News
