Hamas praises Raisi’s support of Palestinians, as Iran’s late President is buried today

*‘US, Israel culpable’

*Military chief orders probe into helicopter crash

*Interim leader sworn-in, holds 1st cabinet meeting

Iranians are mourning the death of President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash along with his foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian in a mountainous and forested area in the country’s East Azerbaijan province amid dense fog.

Six other people in the helicopter, including crew members, were also killed.

The late president, alongside his entourage all of who were ferried in three helicopters, was returning to Tehran from a ceremony held to inaugurate a dam on Iran’s border with the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Mr Raisi, 63, was a hardline cleric and his election as president in 2021 consolidated the control of conservatives over every part of the Islamic Republic.

On Monday, the Iranian Red Crescent confirmed that the bodies of the president and others who died in the crash had been recovered and search operations had ended.

Two of the three helicopters returned safely but the one flying the main personality did not make it as it was declared missing, searched and its wreckage found with no sign of life on it.

Iranian news outlet, Tasnim, which is affiliated to the country’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, reported that President Ebrahim Raisi’s funeral will be held today (Tuesday) 9:30 Iran time in Tabriz.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei declared five days of national mourning following the death of President Raisi.

In a message issued on Monday morning, Ayatollah Khamenei expressed his great sadness over the death of President Raisi in the incident that took place in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province a day earlier.

Iran state TV said the helicopter crashed into a mountain. While there is no official statement on the cause, images of the crash site captured by ISNA, Iran’s state students’ news agency, showed heavy fog lingering over the area.

Multiple outlets, including Reuters, said the helicopter was a US-manufactured Bell 212, a model that first entered service in 1968 and stopped being made in 1998.

Iran’s former Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said the US sanctions — which prohibit Iran from purchasing US-built aircraft — could be partly to blame.

In a phone interview with state TV on Monday, Zarif said the sanctions prevent Iran from having good aviation facilities.

“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,” Zarif said.

The US has imposed various sanctions against Iran since the seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979. Economic sanctions, including those targeting the aviation industry, were reinstated in 2018 after the US withdrew from its nuclear deal.

According to the Washington Institute, a US think tank, Iranian airlines are prohibited from purchasing aircraft that contain more than 10% US parts.

Mohammad Bagheri, Iran’s Military Chief of Staff, has ordered an investigation into the cause of the helicopter crash, according to the ISNA news agency.

Bagheri ordered “A high-ranking committee to launch an investigation into the cause of the president’s helicopter crash”, the report said.

Mohammad Mokhber, Iran’s first Vice President, has been appointed as Acting President of the Islamic Republic. He is expected to serve as caretaker president for some 50 days before a mandatory presidential election for a new Iranian president.

The interim president, in his maiden cabinet meeting, said the country would continue moving forward despite the death of President Ebrahim Raisi.

Iran’s veteran nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri, a harsh critic of the West, was also named acting foreign minister to replace the top diplomat killed in the crash.

Bagheri, 56, had served as deputy to the late foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.