President's death shakes Islamic Republic

Hard-liner Raisi was viewed as a protege of supreme leader

- JON GANBRELL

Rescue crews work at the site of Monday's crash in northwestern Iran. The helicopter was purchased in the 2000s, state-run news agency IRNA said. Aircraft parts have been in short supply due to sanctions.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the country's foreign minister were found dead Monday hours after their helicopter crashed in fog, leaving the Islamic Republic without two key leaders as extraordinary tensions grip the wider Middle East.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in the Shiite theocracy, quickly named a little-known vice-president as caretaker and insisted the government was in control, but the deaths marked yet another blow to a country beset by pressures at home and abroad.

Iran has offered no cause for the crash nor suggested sabotage brought down the helicopter, which fell in mountainous terrain in a sudden, intense fog.

In Tehran, Iran's capital, businesses were open and children attended school Monday. However, there was a noticeable presence of both uniformed and plain clothes security forces.