Ebrahim Raisi, President of Iran has been confirmed dead at age 63 after being involved in a helicopter crash on Sunday.

The country’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was also among those killed, along with seven others.

Sunday’s crash came weeks after Iran launched a drone-and-missile attack on Israel in response to a deadly strike on its diplomatic compound in Damascus.

Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian were travelling back from neighbouring Azerbaijan in one of three helicopters as part of a convoy when their aircraft crashed on Sunday.

The other two aircraft had reached their destination safely,

With the death of President Raisi, the country’s first vice president will take over, and under Iran’s constitution, an election for a new president must be called within 50 days.

Raisi has been president since 2021 when he succeeded the moderate Hassan Rouhani. Since taking office he has ordered a tightening of morality laws, overseen a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests and pushed hard in nuclear talks with world powers.