- Iran decides to hold presidential elections on June 28.
- The head of the Iranian armed forces constitutes the investigation team.
- The incident investigation report would be made public.
TEHRAN: Iran has launched an investigation into the helicopter crash incident that killed President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other senior officials.
The Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, has constituted an investigative committee headed by Brigadier Ali Abdollahi. The incident investigation report would be made public.
Previously, the Iranian state government Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) He had reported that the helicopter suffered the accident due to “technical failure.”
Raisi and the other senior officials were returning after attending an opening ceremony for a dam on Iran's border with the Republic of Azerbaijan when the helicopter crashed while flying through mountainous terrain amid dense fog in the region. from Varzaqan, in the country's East Azerbaijan province, on Sunday afternoon. .
All passengers, including Raisi, were pronounced dead when the charred remains of the Bell 212 helicopter were found early Monday after an overnight search in blizzard conditions.
President Raisi's funeral procession will be held in Tehran on Tuesday (today).
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who holds supreme power with the final say over Iran's foreign policy and nuclear program, announced a five-day period of mourning.
'All identifiable bodies'
On the identification of the bodies, National Disaster Management Organization (NDMO) chief Dr Mohammad Hassan Nami said that all the bodies, including Raisi's, were identifiable, so there was no need to carry out an examination on them. DNA test.
Nami said that the body of Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Al-Hashem, representative of the Iranian Supreme Leader in East Azerbaijan, was found in the best condition as he was still alive after an hour of the accident.
Ali even called the head of the presidential office after the accident and spoke to him, he added.
The presidential elections will be on June 28
Meanwhile, Iran's acting president Mohammad Mokhber chaired a high-level meeting on the presidential elections in the country. The president of Parliament and the head of the judiciary also attended the forum.
The meeting decided to hold presidential elections in Iran on June 28.
“The registration of presidential candidates will take place from May 30 to June 3 and the campaign for the elections will take place from June 12 to 27,” he decided.
