Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has died in a helicopter crash at age 63, Iranian news outlets have reported. Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was also among those killed, along with seven others.
His death comes at a fraught moment in the Middle East, with war raging in Gaza. The helicopter crashed weeks after Iran launched a drone-and-missile attack on Israel in response to a deadly strike on its diplomatic compound in Damascus.
Hardliner Raisi became president in a historically uncompetitive election in 2021. Previously the chief justice, he has overseen a period of intensified repression of dissent in a nation convulsed by youth-led protests against clerical rule.
Raisi was the second-most powerful person in the Islamic Republic’s political structure after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khomeini. The Iranian Constitution mandates that, in the case of the death of the president, the first vice president shall assume with the approval of the Supreme Leader.
Iranian state broadcasters are airing Islamic prayers in between their news broadcasts following the announcement that President Ebrahim Raisi and eight others died after the helicopter they were traveling in crashed in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province.
Iran’s government convened an “urgent meeting” on Monday, according to Iranian state news agency IRNA.
A photo shared by IRNA showed that the chair that Raisi usually sits in was vacant and draped with a black sash in memory of the president.
