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Nine people were on board the helicopter that crashed, leaving no survivors, Tasnim News Agency, a government-affiliated outlet, reported.
It listed the decedents on board with Raisi. They included Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian; Ayatollah Al Hashem, representative of the supreme leader for parts of Azerbaijan; Eastern Azerbaijan Gov. Malek Rahmati; Cmdr. Seyed Mahdi Mousavi, the head of the president’s security unit; and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps member Ansarol Mahdi.
The helicopter’s pilot and co-pilot and a technical assistant also on board were not identified.
The aircraft was returning from a trip to the inauguration of an Iranian dam on the border with Azerbaijan.
Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said fog and bad weather in the area slowed rescuers’ response. The cause of the crash was unclear, but U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said intelligence officials informed him that there is “no evidence of foul play.”
