Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, a hard-liner and potential successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been killed in a helicopter crash in mountainous terrain near the border with Azerbaijan, officials and state media said on Monday.
The charred wreckage of the helicopter — which crashed on Sunday while carrying Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and six other passengers and crew — was found early on Monday after an overnight search in blizzard conditions.
"President Raisi, the foreign minister and all the passengers in the helicopter were killed in the crash," a senior Iranian official said, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.