Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister were killed in a helicopter crash in mountainous terrain and icy conditions, news agency Reuters reported quoting an Iranian official on Monday.
"President Raisi, the foreign minister, and all passengers aboard the helicopter were killed in the crash," the senior Iranian official told Reuters, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Confirming the fatalities, Iran's Mehr news agency said : "all passengers of the helicopter carrying the Iranian president and foreign minister were martyred".
Earlier, another Iranian official told Reuters that the helicopter, carrying Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, was completely burned after it crashed on Sunday.
State television televised footage of the crash site, showing the aircraft had crashed into a mountain peak. But the cause of the crash remains unreported.
The state news agency IRNA said Raisi was in a U.S.-built Bell 212 helicopter.
Raisi, 63, became president in 2021. He has since imposed stricter morality laws, a harsh crackdown on anti-government protests, and pursued nuclear talks with world powers with renewed vigor.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say over state and foreign policy matters including the nuclear programme, sought to calm the nation, saying state affairs would not be interrupted.
