Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi killed in helicopter crash - state TV

 Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi has been killed in a helicopter crash, state media confirm

1. Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was also killed in Sunday's crash, along with several others
   
   
   
2. The helicopter - one of three travelling in a convoy - crashed in heavy fog in the north of the country
3. Raisi was heading to the city of Tabriz, in the north-west of Iran, after returning from a dam opening ceremony on the Azerbaijan border
4. The president was a hardline cleric close to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
5. An election for a new president is due to take place in the next 50 days

6. How are Iran's allies responding to the news?

   

   ReutersCopyright: Reuters

   • Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sends his condolences to his "dear friend" President Raisi. In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, he says he witnessed Raisi's "efforts to have peace" in Iran and the wider region

   • Pakistan's recently elected prime minister Shehbaz Sharif says Raisi and Foeign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian "were good friends of Pakistan"

   • Afghanistan's acting prime minister Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund says they share "the grief of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its people"
   • After Hamas, the leader of Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, released a statement, sending "sincere condolences and sympathy to the brotherly Iranian people"
   • Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad a Thani, of one of the few allies of Iran in the Gulf, Qatar, sends his condolences to the Iranian people

   • Iran's neighbour Iraq also expresses "solidarity with the brotherly Iranian people"
   • Thousands of miles away from Iran, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, writes on X that he is deeply saddened "to have to say goodbye to an exemplary person, an extraordinary leader of the world"

   • Iranian supreme leader announces interim president

     

     ReutersCopyright: Reuters

     We reported earlier that Mohammad Mokhber would become interim president of Iran - that has now been confirmed by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei on X.

     He says Mokhber will cooperate with the other branches - legislative and judiciary - in "facilitating" the election of a new president within the next 50 days.

   • THIS AND MORE UPDATES AT: Iran president helicopter crash live updates: President Ebrahim Raisi dies - state TV - BBC News