Breaking: Iranian president Raisi dies in helicopter crash

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has been confirmed dead in a helicopter crash. 

The chopper, which also had Hossein Amirabdollahian, foreign minister; Malek Rahmati, governor of East Azarbaijan province; and Hojjatoleslam Al Hashem, Tabriz Friday prayer leader onboard, crash-landed Sunday afternoon in the Varzaqan region.

Raisi, 63, was elected president on his second attempt in 2021.

He was regarded as a potential successor to Ayatollah Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader who has held the position since 1989.

In 2019, Khamenei named Raisi as head of the judiciary.

Raisi was also deputy chairman of the Assembly of Experts — the 88-member clerical body responsible for electing the next supreme leader.

State media reports that the Iranian government held an emergency meeting after the crash.