Iran presidential elections set for June 28 as probe into Raisi’s helictoper crash begins

Tehran says results of official investigation into deaths of president and foreign minister will be announced

Iranian Armed Forces chief Maj Gen Mohammad Bagheri has assigned a high-ranking delegation to investigate the helicopter crash in which President Ebrahim Raisi and other high-ranking officials were killed.

The delegation has been sent to the crash site and the results of the investigation will be announced when the mission is completed, Irna said later on Monday.

Iran will hold presidential elections on June 28, the state news agency said.

The date was decided in a meeting of senior officials led by interim president Mohammad Mokhber, who was First Vice President.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, East Azerbaijan provincial governor Malik Rahmati and Mohammed Ali Ale Hashem, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s representative to East Azerbaijan, were also killed in the helicopter crash.

“Ayatollah Raisi, the beloved president of our country, was martyred in a helicopter crash in the Varzaghan region of East Azerbaijan and joined the supreme kingdom,” Irna said.

Mr Khamenei has declared five days of national mourning, confirming their deaths with “great sorrow and regret”.

“The Iranian nation lost a sincere and valuable servant,” he said in a statement.

Mehdi Mousavi, head of Mr Raisi’s protection unit, pilots Taher Mostafavi and Mohsen Darynaosh, and several bodyguards were also killed in the crash, Irna reported.

The group was travelling from Azerbaijan to Iran’s city of Tabriz when their helicopter made a “hard landing” due to heavy fog, state media said on Sunday afternoon.

It said “no sign of life” was detected at the site of the crash in East Azerbaijan province, after more than 70 rescue teams spent the night scouring the mountainous terrain on foot.

Initial reports on the crash varied wildly, including claims that contact had been made with several people onboard the helicopter.

On Monday, Irna reported that Mr Ale Hashem survived for an hour after the crash and contacted Mr Raisi’s chief of staff, Gholam Hossein Esmaili.

The bodies were removed from the crash site on Monday morning and taken to the city of Tabriz, the Red Crescent announced, with funeral arrangements set to be revealed by the government.

Experts say the death of Mr Raisi, widely seen as the successor to an ailing Mr Khamenei, 85, will disrupt the choice for the next supreme leader.

The hardliner, 63, took office in 2021 and hastened Iran’s nuclear programme, in addition to presiding over the fierce government clampdown on anti-regime protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in morality police custody in September 2022.

The government introduced tighter restrictions on public freedom after the protests.

Former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blamed the US for the crash, saying sanctions prevented Tehran from buying modern aircraft and parts.