Turkey says its drone was instrumental in discovering wreckage of Iranian helicopter

The coffins of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and others killed in a helicopter crash on May 19 arrived in procession with an honor guard in Tehran on May 21 ahead of a planned trip to the holy city of Qom, where Additional services were planned for later in the month. day as part of a five-day mourning period declared by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Several funeral ceremonies were held in Iran on May 21 to mark the deaths of Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others in the helicopter crash in northern Iran, near the city ​​of Tabriz, capital of the Eastern Province, in the northwest of Iran. Azerbaijan.

After their journey to Qom, the coffins are expected to return late on May 21 to Tehran, where a funeral service is planned for May 22, presided over by Khamenei and followed by a procession. Ceremonies will also be held in Birjand on May 23, when Raisi will be buried at the Imam Reza shrine in the holy city of Mashhad, Iranian media reported.

The official IRNA news agency published on X, formerly Twitter, the first images allegedly showing the coffins of Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian.

State television later showed large crowds gathering in Qom ahead of religious services.

Khamenei also appointed First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber as interim president. Iranian law states that in the event of the death of the president, power transfers to the first vice president.

A presidential election to determine Raïssi's successor has been announced for June 28. The election, which must take place within 50 days, must be organized by a council composed of the president of Parliament, the head of the judiciary and the first vice president. .

Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Baqeri Kani has been named acting foreign minister, Iranian state media reported.

After Iranian state television said on May 20 that the helicopter had crashed due to bad weather conditions, search and rescue teams found the bodies of Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian at the site. of the accident, in the northwest of Iran.

Communication was lost as the helicopter returned to Tabriz after Raisi attended the joint inauguration of a dam with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, on their shared border.

On May 21, an official on board another helicopter disclosed additional details about events on the day of the accident, according to a dpa report.

Gholam Hossein Esmaili, presidential chief of staff, told state television that when the helicopters departed, “the weather was cloudless, completely clear and bright.”

But he said clouds quickly appeared and the pilot of the presidential helicopter, flying in the center of the convoy of three planes, ordered the helicopters to fly at a higher altitude.

Shortly afterwards, the pilot of the helicopter Esmaili was in realized that the Raisi craft was no longer with the others and was believed to have made an emergency landing.

The two other helicopters in the convoy flew over the area for several minutes before landing near a copper mine due to poor conditions.

The Iranian government said the other two helicopters eventually landed safely in Tabriz.

Iran's official IRNA news agency said all eight people on board the Bell 212 helicopter purchased by Iran in the early 2000s had been killed. In addition to Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian, the governor of East Azerbaijan province, a senior cleric from Tabriz, a Revolutionary Guard official and three crew members were killed, according to IRNA.

The bodies of the crashed helicopter were badly burned, but not beyond recognition, according to the head of Iran's Crisis Management Organization, Mohammad Hassan Nami. He added that DNA testing was not necessary to confirm the identities of those killed in the crash.

He added that Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Al-e Hashem, who was Khamenei's representative in East Azerbaijan province, initially survived the accident and remained alive for about an hour before dying.

Nami said that during this period, Al-e Hashem made contact with Raisi's chief of staff by telephone. He did not reveal further details.

At the same time, Washington said for the first time that Tehran had requested American help for the helicopter incident but was unable to provide assistance, mainly for logistical reasons.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller did not say how the request was made or what it was. The United States and Iran do not have diplomatic relations.

Foreign governments expressed their condolences and solidarity on May 20. Lebanon announced three days of mourning in honor of Raisi. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said both Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian were “true, reliable friends of our country.”

Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, issued a statement of condolences and thanked Raisi for his “tireless efforts of solidarity” with the Palestinian people.

The United States – a bitter rival of Iran that imposed financial sanctions on Raisi when he was head of Iran's judiciary in 2019 – also offered its condolences.

“The United States expresses its official condolences for the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian and other members of its delegation in a helicopter crash in northwest Iran” , the State Department said in a statement.

“As Iran chooses a new president, we reaffirm our support for the Iranian people and their fight for human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

The White House nevertheless had harsh words for Raisi, saying he had “blood on his hands” for supporting extremist groups in the Middle East.

U.S. national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters there was “no doubt this was a man who had a lot of blood on his hands.”

Republican U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said Raisi's regime was “barbaric” and marked by “terror, danger and oppression.”

“In these fateful days, we pray for stability in the Middle East, for Iranian leaders who will seek to live in peace with their neighbors and the West, and for the day when the flag of freedom will be raised in Iran,” Johnson said.written the.

European Council President Charles Michel issued a statement of “sincere condolences”, adding “our thoughts are with the families”.

Some activists have criticized the EU for helping in the rescue operation of a leader accused of overseeing significant human rights abuses.

But EU Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarcic defended the move on May 20, saying that by providing satellite mapping services to Tehran, Brussels was acting “upon request to facilitate a search and rescue operation.” » and did not constitute “an act of political support for Tehran”. any regime or establishment. »

“It’s simply an expression of the most basic humanity,” he added in a post on X.

Raisi was elected president in 2021 and has since tightened many restrictions on Iranians by enforcing morality laws and leading a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody for allegedly violating the Islamic dress code regarding headscarves. .

Thousands of people, including protesters, journalists, lawyers, athletes and artists, have been arrested and at least 500 people have been killed during Iran's brutal crackdown on protests.

Raisi also pushed in nuclear negotiations with world powers while allowing the country to significantly increase its uranium enrichment program.

With reporting from Reuters and dpa