Pope Francis has offered his condolences to Iran following the helicopter crash that killed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdullahine, and promised to pray for their families and the country.
May 31, 2024
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi
Vatican: Pope Francis has offered his condolences to Iran following the helicopter crash that killed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdullahine, and promised to pray for their families and the country.
“I offer my condolences to President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdullahane and all those lost in the helicopter crash,” the pope said in the telegram.
“We entrust the souls of those who died to the mercy of Almighty God and offer prayers for those mourning their loss, especially their families, and send assurances of spiritual accompaniment to the people at this difficult time,” he said.
The May 20 cable was addressed to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei.
Raisi, 63, and Abdullahine, 60, were among two people killed in a helicopter crash on May 19 in the mountains of northwestern Iran, near the border with Azerbaijan, on their way back from Raisi’s meeting with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and the inauguration of the Kis Kalash and Khoda-Afarin dams.
Initial reports said the helicopter carrying the man and his entourage had made a hard landing in foggy conditions, but later reports confirmed it had crashed, with no survivors.
Following the crash, Ayatollah Khamenei announced five days of mourning, and local media reported that new presidential elections were scheduled for June 28. Vice President Mohammed Mokbel took over as president in the interim, and Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani was appointed acting foreign minister by the Iranian cabinet.
Raisi is a hardline cleric and was seen as the favorite to succeed the supreme leader in 2021 elections that are set to shore up conservative control in the Islamic Republic.
The Pope met with Raisi in November, about a month after the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, in which the Iranian president reportedly urged the Pope to use his influence to end Israel’s attacks in Gaza.
Raisi also reportedly called on the Pope to “correctly explain the positions of the oppressor and the oppressed” in the conflict, which has been fighting a “proxy war” between Iran and Israel for decades.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Amir Abdullahian met with Vatican foreign minister Archbishop Paul Gallagher in October, and the two diplomats also discussed Israel’s war with Hamas. – agency
