President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, was killed in a helicopter crash in mountainous terrain near the Azerbaijan border, officials and state media reported on Monday.
The wreckage of the helicopter, which crashed on Sunday with Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian on board, was found early 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 reported, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.
Vice President Mohsen Mansouri and state television later confirmed Raisi’s death in a statement on social media.
State TV, IRNA, reported that images from the crash site showed the aircraft had struck a mountain peak. There was no official word on the cause of the crash.
Raisi, 63, was flying in a U.S.-made Bell 212 helicopter. Elected president in 2021, he had tightened morality laws, overseen a crackdown on anti-government protests, and pushed hard in nuclear negotiations with world powers.
Earlier, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reassured Iranians that there would be no disruption to state affairs.
