Israeli source: We are not involved in Raisi's death

A senior Israeli source told Reuters this morning (Monday) that Israel was not involved in the death of Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi.

Meanwhile former Iranian Foreign MInister Mohammed Zarif pointed the finger at the United States, saying its ban on sale of American plane parts to Iran caused the tragedy.

According to Israel Hayom's Arab affairs correspondent Shachar Kleiman, Zarif addressed the death of Raisi by saying: "The United States is responsible for the tragedy of the crash of the President's plane. It forbade the sale of planes and their parts to Iran despite the injunction of the international court."

President Raisi and the Iranian Foreign Minister Killed in Helicopter Accident

Earlier today, Iran officially confirmed that President Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash yesterday afternoon. Aside from Raisi, the Foreign Minister, the Supreme Leader's representative in the east Azerbaijan province, the governor of the east Azerbaijan province, and the crew were all killed.

The search took place for hours in stormy weather and thick fog which made rescue difficult, to the point that three members of the rescue team also went missing.

Turkey sent a drone to help the search efforts.

When morning came and the fog lifted, a drone located what seemed to be the broken and burned remains of the helicopter. The difficult terrain and freezing cold weather meant the odds that anyone survived what was originally called a "hard landing" were nil. After a few hours, all their deaths were officially confirmed.