Ebrahim Raisi, trusted teammate among the dead

TEHERAN — Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi assumed office in 2021, amid a period of challenges at home and abroad.

On Monday, the 63-year-old president was declared dead after his helicopter crashed a day earlier in a remote and fog-shrouded western mountain region while traveling back from East Azerbaijan Province where he had inaugurated a dam project. Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was among those killed.

Always dressed in a black turban and religious robe, Raisi was elected to the presidency in June 2021 and sworn in as president in August that year.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had endorsed Raisi as the president of the Islamic republic. Khamenei gave his official approval to Raisi at a ceremony broadcast live on state television.

He described Raisi as "a popular, pious person with a brilliant record of management", saying that the people's vote for Raisi is a sign of the nation's determination to follow the path of justice, progress and freedom.

Raisi took the reins of a country in social and economic difficulties. He succeeded Hassan Rouhani, who signed the nuclear deal with world powers in 2015 that gave Iran relief from international sanctions.

In 2018, then-US president Donald Trump reneged on the deal that Teheran had made with the six powers and restored harsh US sanctions on Iran. Indirect talks between Teheran and US President Joe Biden's administration to revive the deal have stalled.

"Sanctions are the US' new way of war with the nations of the world," Raisi told the United Nations in September 2021.

"The policy of 'maximum oppression' is still on. We want nothing more than what is rightfully ours."

Born in 1960 in the northeastern city of Mashhad, he is survived by his wife and two daughters.

Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian was also among those killed. He was 60.

Amir-Abdollahian became foreign minister under Raisi with his election in 2021. He oversaw the indirect talks with the US over the country's nuclear program.

He is survived by his wife and two children.

Agencies - Xinhua