Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi — long considered a potential successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — was killed in a helicopter crash near the Azerbaijan border, officials and the country’s state media said on Monday.

The chopper transporting the 63-year-old Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and six other passengers and crew crashed on Sunday and was discovered following an overnight search, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

The crash comes amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, with Raisi — under Khamenei’s watch — having helped launch an unprecedented drone attack on Israel just last month.

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Khamenei announced on Monday that Mohammad Mokhber, 68, the country’s first vice president, would serve as acting president until elections could be held within 50 days.

“I announce five days of public mourning and offer my condolences to the dear people of Iran,” Khamenei said in a statement.

The Bell 212 helicopter reportedly slammed into a mountain — although there was no official word on the cause of the crash. Among the dead were the governor of East Azerbaijan Province and a senior imam, Reuters reported.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he had no insight into the cause of the crash and adding that the United States had no part in it.

Raisi, a conservative Shiite Muslim cleric who became president in 2021, and the others were traveling from Iran’s northern border following the inauguration of a dam project.

Raisi’s religious role

Like Khamenei and his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic revolution, Raisi wore a cleric’s black turban. It is reserved for “sayyids” — a honorific title for men who can trace their lineage to the Prophet Muhammad.

Raisi’s term in office included several controversies that garnered international attention. Tehran’s theocratic regime enriched uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels, escalating tensions with the West.

Raisi had been previously sanctioned by the U.S. for his involvement in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 following the conclusion of the Iran-Iraq war.

At the same time, Iran’s government supplied weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine (Raisi traveled frequently to Moscow in recent years) and armed terror groups, including Hamas, across the Middle East.

Domestically, the country also faced years of protests against its Shiite theocracy, particularly regarding women’s rights and the wearing of the hijab. The anti-government protests erupted in 2022 following the suspicious death of a 21-year-old Kurdish woman named Mahsa Amini.

“He was not someone exuding charisma. His speeches were not motivating people to the streets. He was executing policy,” Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House, told The New York Times. “Above all, he was a regime insider. He was an ideologue who worked within the system and through the system.”

Under Raisi’s watch, observers said Iran became even less free.

“If you want to think of his legacy, he left the country’s economy in ruins, and it has become more repressive,” Sina Azodi, a lecturer on Iran at George Washington University, told The New York Times. “Iran was never democratic or free, but, since 2021, political repression has increased. No voice of dissent is tolerated.”

Condolences from across the world

The Al-Azhar al-Sharif, the Sunni world’s foremost seat of religious learning, mourned the deaths. In a statement, Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of the Cairo-based Al-Azhar, sent his condolences to the Iranian people.

Palestinian terror groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who both received support from Tehran, issued statements of condolences.

Hamas said the crash “claimed the lives of a group of the best Iranian leaders,” while also praising their “honorable positions in support of our Palestinian cause, and support for the legitimate struggle of our people against the Zionist entity.”

The statement added, “We are confident that the Islamic Republic of Iran will be able — God willing — to overcome the repercussions of this great loss. The dear Iranian people have ancient institutions capable of dealing with this severe ordeal.”

Islamic Jihad, meanwhile, called the deaths “a great loss for the Palestinian people in these difficult circumstances” and thanked Iran for “supporting and assisting the Palestinian people’s struggle and resistance” against Israel.

Russia, Iraq and Qatar made formal statements of concern and offered to assist in the search. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, traditionally seen as Iran’s rival in the region, said in a statement that it “stands by Iran in these difficult circumstances.”

Clemente Lisi is the executive editor of Religion Unplugged. He previously served as deputy head of news at the New York Daily News and a longtime reporter at The New York Post. Follow him on X @ClementeLisi.