Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s foreign minister and others have been found dead at the site of a helicopter crash after an hourslong search through a foggy, mountainous region of the country’s northwest, state media reported.

State TV gave no immediate cause for the crash in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. With Raisi were Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and other officials and bodyguards, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

MOSCOW — Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev extended condolences to Iran’s supreme leader, saying in a statement that he and his government were “deeply shocked by the heavy loss that befell the brotherly and friendly Islamic Republic of Iran and its people.”

In Raisi “the people of Iran have lost an outstanding statesman who served his country selflessly and faithfully all his life. The bright memory of him will always live in our hearts,” Aliyev said.

BEIRUT — The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which has received substantial backing from Iran and is a senior member of its regional “axis of resistance,” mourned the deaths of the Iranian president and foreign minister in a statement.

It described Raisi as “a big brother to us, a strong supporter, and a staunch defender of our issues and the Arab nations’ issues, most notably Jerusalem and Palestine, and a protector of the resistance movements and those fighting on their behalf in all the positions of responsibility he held.”

TEHRAN — Iran’s Cabinet held an emergency meeting as state media announced the death of President Ebrahim Raisi.

The Cabinet offered its condolences, saying in a statement that he made the ultimate sacrifice in serving his country, according to a report by the state-run IRNA news agency. The report was accompanied by a photo of Raisi’s chair draped in black, his photo on the desk.

“We assure our loyal and appreciative and beloved nation that the path of service will continue with the tireless spirit of Ayatollah Raisi, the hero and the servant of the nation and the faithful friend of the leadership,” the Cabinet said in a statement carried by IRNA.

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced a day of mourning over the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.

“I along with the government and people of Pakistan extend our deepest condolences and sympathies to the Iranian nation on this terrible loss. May the martyred souls rest in heavenly peace. The great Iranian nation will overcome this tragedy with customary courage,” Sharif wrote on the social platform X on Monday.

Sharif recently hosted Raisi and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian when they visited Pakistan and said: “They were good friends of Pakistan.”

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari in a statement also expressed shock and sorrow over Raisi’s death. He extended his condolences to the bereaved families of the Iranian president, the foreign minister and others who died in the accident.

NEW DELHI — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was deeply saddened and shocked by the news of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s death, and sent his condolences to Raisi’s family and the people of Iran.

“India stands with Iran in this time of sorrow,” Modi said in a post on social platform X on Monday.

BAGHDAD — Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, whose government coalition is close to Tehran, expressed “great sadness and great sorrow” in a statement on Monday after the deaths of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and others in a helicopter crash.

He also extended “sincere condolences” to Iran’s supreme leader and government and “solidarity with the brotherly Iranian people.”

CAIRO — A Houthi leader in Yemen on Monday mourned the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and other senior officials who were killed in a helicopter crash.

“Our deepest condolences to the Iranian people and the Iranian leadership and to the families of the president and the accompanying delegation,” Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, the head of the Houthis’ Supreme Revolutionary Committees. “The Iranian people will continue to have leaders loyal to their people, God willing.”

Iran is the main backer of the Houthis in their yearslong war against Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which is backed by a Saudi-led military coalition.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s foreign minister and others have been found dead at the site of a helicopter crash after an hourslong search through a foggy, mountainous region of the country’s northwest, state media reported.

State TV gave no immediate cause for the crash in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. With Raisi were Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and other officials and bodyguards, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

Turkish authorities early Monday released what they described as drone footage showing what appeared to be a fire in the wilderness that they “suspected to be wreckage of a helicopter.” The coordinates listed in the footage put the fire some 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the Azerbaijan-Iranian border on the side of a steep mountain.

Footage released by the IRNA early Monday showed what the agency described as the crash site, across a steep valley in a green mountain range. Soldiers speaking in the local Azeri language said: “There it is, we found it.”

Shortly after, state TV in an on-screen scrolling text said: “There is no sign of life from people on board.” It did not elaborate, but the semiofficial Tasnim news agency showed rescuers using a small drone to fly over the site, with them speaking among themselves saying the same thing.

▶ This is an excerpt from a full story. Continue reading here

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Rescuers have found a helicopter that was carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s foreign minister and other officials that had apparently crashed in the mountainous northwest reaches of Iran the day before, though “no sign of life” was detected, state media reported.

As the sun rose Monday, rescuers saw the helicopter from a distance of some 2 kilometers (1.25 miles), the head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, Pir Hossein Kolivand, told state media. He did not elaborate and the officials had been missing at that point by over 12 hours.

Raisi was traveling in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. State TV said what it called a “hard landing” happened near Jolfa, a city on the border with the nation of Azerbaijan, some 600 kilometers (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran. Later, state TV put it farther east near the village of Uzi, but details remained contradictory.

With Raisi were Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and other officials and bodyguards, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. One local government official used the word “crash,” but others referred to either a “hard landing” or an “incident.”

Footage released by the IRNA early Monday showed what the agency described as the crash site, across a steep valley in a green mountain range. Soldiers speaking in the local Azeri language said: “There it is, we found it.”

Shortly after, state TV in an on-screen scrolling text said: “There is no sign of life from people on board.” It did not elaborate, but the semiofficial Tasnim news agency showed rescuers using a small drone to fly over the site, with them speaking among themselves saying the same thing.

JERUSALEM — The crash of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s foreign minister and other officials is likely to reverberate across the Middle East.

That’s because Iran has spent decades supporting armed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and the Palestinian territories that allow it to project power and potentially deter attacks from the United States or Israel, the sworn enemies of its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Tensions have never been higher than they were last month, when Iran under Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei launched hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles at Israel in response to an airstrike on an Iranian Consulate in Syria that killed two Iranian generals and five officers.

Israel, with the help of the U.S., Britain, Jordan and others, intercepted nearly all the projectiles. In response, Israel apparently launched its own strike against an air defense radar system in the Iranian city of Isfahan, causing no casualties but sending an unmistakable message.

The sides have waged a shadow war of covert operations and cyberattacks for years, but the exchange of fire in April was their first direct military confrontation.