Dr. Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi
Tehran: Iran today confirmed the death of President Dr Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in yesterday’s helicopter crash and said the “dedicated servant of the Iranian people and Imam Reza, was martyred while serving his nation”.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei today announced five days of public mourning and expressed his condolences to the people of Iran.
Khameini said that according to Article 131 of Iran’s Constitution, 68-year-old Dr Mohammad Mokhber, who was serving as the first vice president of Iran, “is in the position of managing the executive branch and is obliged to arrange for a new President to be elected within 50 days, together with the heads of the legislative and judicial branches”.
Dr Raisi travelled to East Azerbaijan province yesterday to inaugurate two construction projects, and on his return from the inauguration ceremony of the Qiz Qalasi Dam, his helicopter crashed in the Varzeghan region of East Azerbaijan province. “The accident occurred on the night of Imam Reza’s (PBUH) birthday, bestowing upon him the honour of martyrdom,” Iran said.
Among those “martyred” in the crash were Hossein Amirabdollahian, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Ayatollah Ale-Hashem, Friday Imam of Tabriz; Malek Rahmati, Governor General of East Azerbaijan; the Head of the President’s Security Team; and the helicopter’s pilots and flight crew.
Khamenei condoled their “martyrdom”. In his message, he stated, “Dear Raisi did not know what fatigue was. In this tragic incident, the Iranian nation lost a sincere and valuable servant. For him, the welfare and satisfaction of the people, which indicates God’s satisfaction, was preferred over everything, so his annoyances from the ungratefulness and taunts of some ill-wishers did not prevent him from working day and night to improve affairs”.
He added: “In this unbearable incident, prominent personalities such as Hojatoleslam val-Moslemin Ale-Hashem, the popular and reliable Friday Imam of Tabriz, Mr Amirabdollahian, the hard-working and active Foreign Minister, Mr Malek Rahmati, the revolutionary and pious Governor General of East Azerbaijan, and the flight crew and other companions also entered into God’s rest.”
Just before the crash, Dr Raisi attended the zero point of the Iran-Azerbaijan border and the construction site of the joint dam Qiz Qalasi before noon yesterday. He and Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, had officially opened the Qiz Qalasi dam, which has been built upstream of the Aras border river. The Qiz Qalasi dam project, which has been implemented jointly by the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, was officially opened and their operation started with the presence of the presidents of the two countries. The dam is an earthen dam with a clay core and a height of 37 metres from the foundation with a crest length of 834 metres and a body volume of 2.1 million cubic meters. It will provide 2 billion cubic metres of water and 270 gigawatts of electricity per year, covering 74k hectares of agricultural land.
– global bihari bureau
