Iran - May 20, 2024

Storyline:
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the country's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian have been confirmed dead alongside several others after the helicopter they were traveling in crashed in a mountainous area on Sunday, Iranian state media reported on Monday.

The helicopter carrying Raisi and other senior officials reportedly made a "hard landing" amid bad weather in the northwestern Iranian province of East Azerbaijan on Sunday, sparking a major search and rescue operation.

The other members of Raisi's accompanying delegation, including East Azerbaijan's Governor Malek Rahmati, and the Imam of Friday prayers in the city of Tabriz Mohammad Ali Ale-Hasehem, as well as the flight crew have also lost their lives in the incident.

The Iranian side swiftly organized rescue efforts after news of the incident first filtered through. However, the rescue teams, hindered by poor weather conditions and difficult terrain, were only able to reach the crash site in the early hours of Monday.

Turkish media reported that Turkey's Bayraktar Akinci unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) had earlier identified a heat source, which was suspected to be the wreckage of the helicopter. The Iranian side later identified the exact location.

The tragedy occurred while Raisi had been on his way to East Azerbaijian's provincial capital Tabriz for the inauguration of a petrochemical complex after having earlier attended the inauguration ceremony of a storage dam in the Khoda Afarin County near the Azerbaijian border.

Media reports said images showed the helicopter had crashed heavily into a mountain peak. Iranian state news agency IRNA said Raisi was flying in a U.S.-made Bell 212 helicopter.

Raisi was born in 1960 in the northeastern city of Mashhad. He served as chairman of the General Inspection Office, Attorney General, and Chief Justice during his career before being elected as Iranian President in June 2021, and officially took up office that August.

Amir-Abdollahian, who was born in 1964, graduated from Tehran University with a PhD in International Relations and was fluent in Arabic and English in addition to his native Persian. He previously served as Iran's ambassador to Bahrain and as deputy foreign minister for Arab and African Affairs, before being appointed as foreign minister in 2021.

Shotlist:
FILE: Tehran, Iran - Date Unknown:
1. Iranian national flag;
FILE: Tehran, Iran - July 4, 2023:
2. Various of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaking at 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO;
FILE: Tehran, Iran - June 17, 2023:
3. Various of Raisi meeting with Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud;
FILE: Tehran, Iran - April 29, 2023:
4. Raisi speaking at joint news conference held with Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid;
FILE: Beijing, China - Feb 15, 2023:
5. Raisi speaking during interview;
Tehran, Iran - May 12, 2024:
6. Various of Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian speaking at third Iranian-Arab Dialogue Conference;
Damascus, Syria - April 8, 2024:
7. Amir-Abdollahian speaking at press conference;
FILE: Tehran, Iran - April 10, 2023:
8. Various of Iranian national flag, cityscape, traffic.

[Restrictions: No access Chinese mainland/Al-Arabiya/Persian language TV Stations outside Iran. Strictly No Access BBC Persian/VOA Persian/Manoto TV/Iran International TV]