The Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has been killed in a helicopter crash.
The crashed helicopter was one of three traveling in a convoy, and it crashed in heavy fog in the north of the country.

President Raisi was returning from a dam opening ceremony when the crash happened.

According to the Iranian state-owned media, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was also killed in Sunday’s May 19, 2024, crash, along with several others.

“Raisi was heading to the city of Tabriz, in the north-west of Iran, after returning from a dam opening ceremony on the Azerbaijan border,” the media explained.

The Iranian state media has, however, continued to confirm that the crash was due to bad weather conditions.

President Raisi was a hardline cleric close to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has also been a key decision-maker in Iran’s foreign policy, supporting groups like Hezbollah and Hamas that oppose Israel.

Recently, Iran launched an attack on Israel in April 2024, and Israel’s retaliatory strikes have heightened tensions between the two nations.

The possibility of an all-out war between Iran and Israel has been a real concern, with recent escalations bringing the countries closer to direct conflict than ever before.

Despite some voices within Iran calling for a re-evaluation of the country’s stance towards Israel, the prevailing sentiment remains one of hostility and a commitment to challenging Israel’s legitimacy and influence in the region.