Iranian president confirmed dead after helicopter crash

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi has died after the helicopter he was travelling in crashed in a mountainous region of northern Iran in foggy weather.

- ANDY GREGORY, BEL TREW

The aircraft went down in between Jolfa and Varzaqan, a region on the border of Azerbaijani exclave

Nakhchivan, around 600km (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital Tehran.

The helicopter was carrying 63-year-old hardliner Raisi – viewed as a potential successor to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – and Iran’s foreign minister Hossein AmirAbdollahian, following a visit with the Azerbaijani president to inaugurate a new dam over the Aras River, which separates Iran and Nakhchivan.

As an emergency meeting of Iran’s cabinet was conducted, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared five days of national mourning and announced that Iran’s first vice president Mohammad Mokhber had taken over the role of acting president, and would have 50 days to call an election.

Mr Mokhber had already begun receiving calls from officials and foreign governments in Raisi’s absence, state media reported, as Iran’s cabinet vowed to follow Raisi’s path and said that, “with the help of God and the people, there will be no problem with management of the country”.

Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, will serve as the country’s acting foreign minister, state TV said. Earlier, an official with the rescue operation said “President Raisi’s helicopter was completely burned in the crash,” as they ruled out finding any survivors.