Iranian President Raisi killed in helicopter crash
Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported on the morning of 20 May that the Iranian President and Foreign Minister had been killed in a helicopter crash on 19 May.
Source: Iranian semi-official news agency Mehr; Reuters with reference to an Iranian official; Iranian state news agency IRNA
Quote from Mehr: "Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the country's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian were martyred in the helicopter crash that occurred on Sunday."
Details: Reuters, citing an Iranian official, also reported that Raisi and his foreign minister had been killed.
The helicopter carrying Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian crashed on Sunday.
Mehr News reported that all the passengers of the helicopter, including the governor of Iran's East Azerbaijan Province Malek Rahmati, Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Al-Hashem, the representative of the leader of the Islamic Revolution in the East Azerbaijan Province, and several other people, had been killed.
Later, the Iranian state news agency IRNA confirmed the information about Raisi's death.
It is also reported that the Iranian government held an emergency meeting chaired by Vice President Mohammad Mokhber.
Why this is important: Iran is supporting Russia in its war of aggression against Ukraine. Among other things, it sells Shahed attack drones to Russia, which the latter uses to constantly attack Ukrainian territory. In addition, analysts reported that Iran had been building drone manufacturing plants in Russia and Belarus.
In April, Iran launched a large-scale air attack on Israel with missiles and drones in response to IDF's strike on the consular premises in Damascus, which killed several members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
On 14 May, the EU Council agreed to expand the sanctions mechanism against Iran for its support of Russia in the war against Ukraine and destructive actions in the Middle East.
Background:
- It was reported earlier that a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi likely crashed on Sunday.
- On 20 May, rescue workers found the crashed helicopter that was carrying the Iranian President, Iranian Foreign Minister and other officials.
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