TRANSCRIPT
The Iranian Red Crescent Society says they've found the wreckage of a helicopter which carried Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi with no signs of life detected.
The helicopter, found near a village called Tavil, close to the country's border with Azerbaijan, also reportedly contained Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian [[AH-meer-AHB-dull-AH-hee-an]], and seven others [[nine total]].
Iran's Interior Minister, Ahmed Vahidi, first announced news of the crash, saying the presidential party were returning from parts of Iran's East Azerbaijan province prior to the incident.
IN-LANGUAGE (Farsi) TRANSLATED TO ENG: "In the name of God, after the opening of Khoda Afarin Dam and the Qiz Qalasi Dam in the presence of the president, on the return journey, the president and others accompanying him were coming back in several helicopters. One of the helicopters was forced to make a rough landing due to bad weather conditions and fog in the area. Now various rescue teams are moving in a different direction of the area, but, in view of the fog and the bad weather conditions, it will take time to get to the location of the helicopter. Things are under control and rescue teams are doing their work. We hope it will be done as soon as possible".
News of the crash spurred a massive international search effort.
All the resources of Iran's army and the elite Revolutionary Guard were put to use with search and rescue operations complicated by rain and heavy fog.
Iran's Red Crescent Society closed in on the wreckage after a heat signature was spotted by a Turkish drone.
The head of the Iranian Red Crescent says on finding the helicopter it was clear that the entire cabin was significantly damaged and there were no signs of survivors.
The shocking development lead to a significant response from supporters in Iran's capital, Tehran, who flooded the streets to pray for the president's safety.
The residents expressed concern about chaos in the Iranian political landscape in the event of President Raisi's death.
IN-LANGUAGE (Farsi) TRANSLATED TO ENG: "If anything happens to him it will take time to replace him and for the situation to settle down and meanwhile things will be chaotic and this is bad for everyone. President Raisi has made it so far and however good his work was, I hope nothing bad happens."
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei [[HUH-meh-nee]] is now 85-years-old and now the current longest-serving head of state in the Middle East.
Iran's political class has been looking to the future of the country's leadership after his death.
Arash Azizi is an Iran political analyst and fellow at the independent Centre for Middle East and Global Order in Berlin.
He says, with President Raisi's likely death, an internal power struggle for who succeeds the supreme leader may now be underway.
“Now Ebrahim Raisi was a very leading contender for the position of the Supreme Leader. Now, the big question in Iran is what happens when Ayatollah Khamenei passes away? Who is going to be the next supreme leader? A key contender for that was Ebrahim Raisi. And so with him out of the way, that would be very significant. We all expected a ferocious struggle for power to begin after Khamenei dies. It might have already begun with this incident.”
