Live updates on Iran helicopter crash: Iranian President Raisi feared his death as helicopter wreckage was found

22:40 (IST), May 19

Iran’s Raisi: ultra-conservative president close to the supreme leader

Ultra-conservative President Ebrahim Raisi, always religiously dressed in a black turban and religious garb, was in office during a turbulent period of confrontation abroad and mass protests at home.

There were fears for the 63-year-old on Sunday after Iranian state media reported his helicopter crashed in bad weather in a remote western mountainous region, with no news of Raisi’s condition.

As search and rescue teams made their way to the suspected crash site in thick fog in an area of ​​East Azerbaijan province, Islamic Republic state television broadcast footage of worshipers praying in Raisi’s hometown.

The Iranian president, whose career began in the years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and who is close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, seized power in a 2021 election that was followed by turbulent years of protests and tensions.

Like Khamenei, Raisi has often expressed defiance as Iran, the largest Shiite Muslim power, finds itself in a tense confrontation with its declared arch-enemies the United States and Israel.

Raisi took power after an election in which more than half of voters stayed away and several political heavyweights were barred from running.