by Seyed Hossein Mousavian at Middle East Eye
On Sunday 19 May, a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and other officials crashed in the mountains on Iran’s border with Azerbaijan.
Raisi was on his way back from the opening ceremony of a joint major dam with Azerbaijan. The terrible weather made the search efforts extremely difficult. As a result, nations around the world offered their assistance in emergency efforts to locate the downed helicopter and Turkey, Russia and Iraq sent rescue teams.
On Monday, Iranian officials confirmed that the 63-year-old president, foreign minister and others had been found dead at the crash site.
Raisi was born in the northeast Iranian city of Mashhad. Aged 20, he was appointed prosecutor in the city of Karaj, and gradually rose to be head of Iran’s judiciary. He was elected president in June 2021.
The president’s death came at a fraught moment in the Middle East. Except for Israel, world leaders offered their condolences…
Continue Reading