The President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisidied in a helicopter crash in a mountainous area of northwestern Iran, the country’s state media reported.
He was traveling with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and several others.
A major search and rescue operation to try to locate the aircraft was launched on Sunday – with Russia and Turkey among the countries assisting in the effort.
It was initially reported that the helicopter carrying Raisi and the foreign minister had made a hard landing in foggy conditions.
The helicopter crashed in a remote area of northwest Iran, on its way back from Azerbaijan, where Raisi was meeting President Ilham Aliyev.
On Monday, the Iranian Red Crescent confirmed that the bodies of the president and others who died in the crash had been recovered and search operations had ended.
“We are in the process of transferring the bodies of the martyrs to Tabriz [in Iran’s northwest]”, the head of the organization told state television.
According to local media, he was in the area to open the Qiz Qalasi and Khodaafarin dams.
Before the death was confirmed, vigils took place in the capital, Tehran, with photos showing people kneeling in prayer.
Raisi, 63, was a hard-line cleric close to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and was seen by some as a potential successor to the 85-year-old.
His election as president in 2021 consolidated the conservatives’ control over all parts of the Islamic Republic.
In a statement after his death, the Iranian government said it would continue to operate “without interruption.”
Several countries expressed their condolences following the death of President Raisi.
In Pakistan, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced a national day of mourning and described Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian as “good friends of Iran”.
Writing on social media, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “deeply saddened and shocked” by the deaths.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government is “in full contact and coordination with the Iranian authorities” and ready to “provide any necessary support”.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed his condolences and said the president and foreign minister were “true and reliable friends of our country.”
