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Iranian president presumed dead after 'no survivors' found at crash site

by Rachel Amran and The Kyiv Independent news desk May 20, 2024 6:26 AM 2 min read
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaks during the funeral ceremony for victims of twin explosions near the cemetery where the grave of Iran's former top military commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani is located on Jan. 5, 2024, in Kerman, Iran. (Getty Images)
This audio is created with AI assistance

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister are presumed dead after rescuers found "no survivors" at the site of the crashed helicopter that went down over a mountainous area in Iran on May 19, Iranian state media reported.

"President Raisi's helicopter was completely burned in the crash ... unfortunately, all passengers are feared dead," an anonymous Iranian official told Reuters.

Iranian state media said the helicopter made a "hard landing" near Tabriz in the northwest of the country. Rescue teams worked for over twelve hours amidst dense fog and freezing temperatures.

Raisi, 63, was elected president in 2021 in "a landslide" victory in a vote described as "neither free nor fair" by Human Rights Watch.

Iran is one of Russia's closest allies on the international stage. The two countries have only deepened their military and political cooperation since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Most notably, Iran has provided Russia with thousands of Shahed kamikaze drones used in airstrikes against Ukraine and has helped Moscow build a drone factory in Russia, as well as reportedly sending thousands of ballistic missiles.

Explainer: Iran’s cheap, effective Shahed drones and how Russia uses them in Ukraine
Editor’s note: This story initially said that Shahed-136 drones are said to weigh 10-15 kilograms. It was corrected since that is the weight of the warhead, and the drones weigh about 200 kilograms. Iran’s massive aerial assault on Israel over the weekend felt close to home for Ukraine. In a
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11:35 AM

Russian attacks across Ukraine kill 4, injure 23 over past day.

Russian forces launched 110 Shahed-type drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles against Ukraine overnight, the Air Force said. Fifty-two were shot down, 50 were lost across Ukraine thanks to electronic warfare countermeasures, and six flew to Belarus and Russia, according to the statement.
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