Iran’s President Raisi, FM Amirabdollahian killed in helicopter crash

 

LIVE: Iran’s President Raisi, FM Amirabdollahian killed in helicopter crash

 

 

 

Iran’s vice president to assume interim duties: Khamenei

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has assigned Vice President Mohammad Mokhber to assume interim duties after President Ebrahim Raisi’s death.

“In accordance with Article 131 of the constitution, Mokhber is in charge of leading the executive branch,” said Khamenei in a statement, adding that Mokhber will be required to work with the heads of legislative and judicial to prepare for presidential elections “within a maximum period of 50 days”.

 

Screengrab from video released by the Iranian Red Crescent on Monday shows the crash site of the helicopter carrying Raisi in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province [Iranian Red Crescent/Handout via  AFP]

[Iranian Red Crescent/Handout via  AFP]

The helicopter carrying Raisi takes off near the Iran-Azerbaijan border on Sunday [Ali Hamed Haghdoust/IRNA/WANA via Reuters]

 

 

 

‘We’ve had presidents that sat in their office mostly; Raisi was different’

Fouad Izadi, an associate professor of world studies at the University of Tehran, has told Al Jazeera that Raisi’s death “in the line of duty” is a “shock to the nation”.

The fact that he was travelling at the time of his death was representative of his commitment to being a “hands-on” president, Izadi said.

He noted that in three years, Raisi had visited all Iranian provinces at least two times and some provinces nine times.

“We have had presidents in Iran that sat in their office mostly; President Raisi was different and I think that’s one reason that people are going to remember him,” he said.