Iran Declares 5-Day Of Mourning Over President Raisi’s Death

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced on Monday 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.

Khamenei has appointed First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber acting president and has a maximum period of 50 days to hold elections following the death of Raisi, Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported.

Raisi, the country’s foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and others have been found dead at the site of a helicopter crash Monday after an hourslong search through a foggy, mountainous region of the country’s northwest, state media reported. Raisi was 63.

The government cabinet has appointed Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani as acting foreign minister.

Lebanon and Syria on Monday announced three days of national mourning for the Iranian president and foreign minister, who were killed in a helicopter crash overnight near the Azerbaijan border.

Iran enjoys sway in both countries, backing the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in Lebanon and supporting Syria’s government and security forces stay in power throughout more than a decade of war.

“I can’t tell you how sorry I am about this incident that happened. Especially that the foreign minister had become a friend,” Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told reporters on Monday.

Rescue team works following a crash of a helicopter carrying Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, in Varzaqan, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran, on May 19, 2024. (West Asia News Agency via Reuters)
The helicopter also carried the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, other officials and bodyguards, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

Early Monday morning, Turkish authorities released what they described as drone footage showing what appeared to be a fire in the wilderness that they “suspected to be wreckage of helicopter.” The coordinates listed in the footage put the fire some 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the Azerbaijan-Iranian border on the side of a steep mountain.