Iran president helicopter crash: Ebrahim Raisi’s funeral procession underway

Iran has opened an investigation in to the helicopter crash that killed president Ebrahim Raisi, foreign minister Amir Abdollahian and other officials.

They were travelling in a US-made helicopter from Iran’s border with Azerbaijan after inaugurating a dam project when the aircraft crashed in a mountanious region of northwest Iran.

Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces major general Mohammad Bagheri has assigned a high-ranking delegation to investigate the crash, IRNA reported.

Iran will hold an election on 28 June to find the successor for president Ebrahim Raisi following his death in a helicopter crash on Sunday.

The date was finalised in a meeting chaired by interim president Mohammad Mokhber on Monday evening.

The registration of candidates will be open from 30 May to 3 June, with the campaign period running from 12 to 27 June.

The Islamic Republic’s constitution directs that in the event the president dies or is incapacitated, the first vice president shall take over for an interim period of 50 days.

During that time the acting president must work with the speaker of parliament and the head of the judiciary to arrange for an urgent presidential election to be held.

Former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blamed US-imposed sanctions on Iran for the crash of the American Bell 212 helicopter that was carrying president Ebrahim Raisi and seven others.

The Bell 212 helicopter that crashed was purchased by Iran in the early 2000s, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. But aircraft in Iran face a shortage of parts because of Western sanctions, and often fly without safety checks.

“One of the main culprits of yesterday’s tragedy is the United States, which … embargoed the sale of aircraft and aviation parts to Iran and does not allow the people of Iran to enjoy good aviation facilities,” Mr Zarif told The Associated Press.

There are 15 Bell 212 helicopters with an average age of 35 years currently registered in Iran that could be in active use or in storage, according to aviation data firm Cirium.

Lebanon and Syria on Monday announced three days of national mourning for the Iranian president and foreign minister, who were killed in a helicopter crash.

Iran enjoys sway in both countries, backing the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in Lebanon and supporting Syria’s government and security forces stay in power throughout more than a decade of war.

“I can’t tell you how sorry I am about this incident that happened. Especially that the foreign minister had become a friend,” Lebanon’s foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib told reporters.

Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad, as well as other Lebanese officials and Hezbollah, offered their condolences for the deaths.

The US state department found itself playing defense on Monday after a spokesman offered “official condolences” for the death of Iran’s Ebrahim Raisi, alleged to have been responsible for ordering the murders of Iranian dissidents and brutal crackdowns on protesters.

Matthew Miller was sharply questioned by reporters at his daily briefing over the statement, which bore his name and was released minutes before the briefing took place.

In his response, he noted that the US had made similar statements after the deaths of other leaders with bloody records, such as Josef Stalin.

He also insisted that the statement “in no way — in no way at all undermines” the state department’s criticism of the Iranian government on issues of human rights and US opposition to Iranian support for various militant groups across the Middle East.