Armenian political, religious and lay officials offered condolences on Monday after it was announced that Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian had died in a helicopter crash.
After a day of searching the area of the crash, Iran’s official news agencies announced that Raisi, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and all others on board the helicopter had not survived the crash. The helicopter had left an area near the border with Azerbaijan, where the Iranian officials participated in the inauguration of a new bridge.
“On behalf of the government and the people of the Republic of Armenia, I convey to you my sincere condolences and words of consolation on the tragic death of my dear friend and colleague President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and their accompanying persons,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in a condolence note addressed to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“I express my solidarity with the government and people of the Islamic Republic of Iran, wishing strength and steadfastness at this difficult time,” added Pashinyan.
Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan likewise offered his “deepest condolences… to the friendly people of Iran” in a social media post.
President Vahagn Khachaturyan, Defense Minister Suren Papikyan, as well as Catholicos Karekin II issued separate condolence statements.
Opposition leaders, similarly, expressed their condolences, among them Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, who is currently leading the “Tavush for the Homeland” protest movement against Armenia’s unilateral border delimitation process with Azerbaijan.
“At this difficult moment, all our thoughts and prayers are with the friendly state and brotherly people of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Galstanyan said in a message prior to the official announcement of the Iranian leaders’ deaths.
“Iran is a friendly country for us and stability in our region, to which Iran is one of the maintainers, it is very important at this juncture,” Galstanyan added.
