Iranian President Raisi and Foreign Minister Abdollahyan killed in helicopter crash

On the afternoon of the 19th local time, a helicopter carrying the Iranian president, foreign minister and other accompanying personnel had a hard landing accident in the Varzagan area of East Azerbaijan Province. After the accident, Iran quickly organized rescue, but the rescue operation was hampered by inconvenient transportation in the accident area, poor conditions in the mountains and forests, and foggy weather. In the early morning of the 20th local time, Turkey's Anadolu News Agency reported that the "Ranger" drone sent by Turkey to Iran identified the heat source, which is likely to be the location of the helicopter accident, and provided the exact coordinates to Iran. Iranian rescuers then determined the exact location of the accident helicopter.

President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Sayyed Ibrahim Raihi, was born in Mashhad, northeastern Iran in 1960. He has served as Chairman of the Iranian National Supervision Organization, Attorney General of the State, and Director of Justice. On June 19, 2021, Raihi was elected President of Iran and was sworn in on August 5 of the same year.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abdullahyan was born in 1964 and graduated from the University of Tehran with a major in international relations. In addition to being a native Persian speaker, he is also fluent in Arabic and English. Abdullahyan has served as Iran's ambassador to Bahrain, director of the Persian Gulf and Middle East Department of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and deputy minister of the Arab and African Affairs Department of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has served as Iran's foreign minister since 2021.