Iran’s Chief of Army Staff orders probe into Raesi helicopter crash

Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Bagheri assigned a high-ranking delegation to investigate the causes of the Iranian President's helicopter crash in East Azerbaijan.

Following the unfortunate incident of the martyrdom of Iranian president Ebrahim Raeisi and his accompanying delegation, Major General Mohammad Bagheri sent a high-ranking delegation to East Azarbaijan under the responsibility of General Ali Abdollahi, coordinator deputy of General Staff of Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran along with technical experts of the country and the army to investigate the causes of the helicopter crash, Mehr reports.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian have martyred in a helicopter crash in the northwestern province of East Azerbaijan.

The helicopter carrying President Raeisi and his accompanying delegation crashed on May 19 in the Dizmar forest, nestled between the cities of Varzaqan and Jolfa in East Azerbaijan Province.

It was transporting Raeisi, Amir-Abdollahian, East Azarbaijan Governor Malek Rahmati, Friday Prayers leader of the city of Tabriz Seyyed Mohammad Ali Al-e Hashem , and a member of the president’s bodyguard team Mahdi Mousavi. The helicopter’s pilot, co-pilot and crew were also among others on board the chopper.

President Raeisi and his accompanying delegation were returning from a ceremony to inaugurate a dam on the Araz River with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.