20th May, 2024
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has announced five days of mourning for President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash.
“I announce five days of public mourning and offer my condolences to the dear people of Iran,” said Khamenei in an official statement a day after the death of Raisi and other officials in the crash in East Azerbaijan province.
Raisi was confirmed dead alongside Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and seven others in the helicoper crash.
Rescue teams had been scouring the area since Sunday afternoon after a helicopter carrying Raisi, the foreign minister and other officials had gone missing.
Early Monday, relief workers located the missing helicopter with state TV saying the President had died.
Following his death, Vice President, Mohammad Mokhber, is expected to resume as interim president after Ebrahim Raisi’s death in a helicopter crash as the country gears up for early elections.
As interim president, Mokhber is part of a three-person council, along with the speaker of parliament and the head of the judiciary, that will organise a new presidential election within 50 days of the president’s death.