Photos: Remembering Iran's Late President Raisi and FM Amir-Abdollahian

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other members of the delegation were en route to Iran's city of Tabriz when the tragedy happened near the city of Jolfa, about 600 kilometers (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital Tehran.

The president was returning from a ceremony on the Iran-Azerbaijan border, where he held a meeting with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.

After the deaths were confirmed, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei announced five days of mourning.

The country's First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber has since been appointed by the supreme leader as interim president, assuming the position for the next 50 days until elections are held. Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani has been appointed as interim foreign minister following the death of Amir-Abdollahian.

Explore Sputnik's gallery depicting two of Iran's most remarkable modern political figures:

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Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi places his hands on his heart as a gesture of respect to the crowd during the funeral ceremony of the victims of a bomb explosion in the city of Kerman about 510 miles (820 kms) southeast of Tehran, January 5, 2024.

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Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is seen before a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at Kishida's office in Tokyo, August 7, 2023. The two top officials discussed bilateral cooperation as well as the Iran nuclear deal.

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Raisi visits an exhibition of the Revolutionary Guard navy capabilities in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, Iran, February 2, 2024.

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Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian (right) and Qatar's Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani (center) arrive for a joint press conference at the Foreign Ministry headquarters in the capital Tehran, July 7, 2022. The bilateral talks mainly sought to revive Iran's nuclear deal following similar discussions between Iran and the US hosted in Qatar's Doha.

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President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi holds up a photo of the slain Iranian General Qassem Soleimani as he addresses the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, September 21, 2022.

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Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian (right) welcomes his counterpart from Turkiye Hakan Fidan (left) in Tehran, September 3, 2023. This marked the 8th Iran-Turkiye High Level Cooperation Council meeting, aimed to address bilateral ties in areas such as border security, counterterrorism, trade, energy, education, etc.

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Raisi's supporters hold his photo and wave the Iraninan flag during a 2017 presidential election rally in Tehran, Iran, May 16, 2017.

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Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian (left) receives his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov (right) at the Foreign Ministry headquarters in Iran's capital Tehran, June 23, 2022. The diplomats held discussions on Russian-Iranian nuclear cooperation, withstanding Western sanctions, as well as global and regional issued pertaining to the countries' ties.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi prior to the start of the Russian-Iranian talks held in Moscow on December 7, 2023. The meeting focused on bilateral cooperation with particular emphasis on implementing up-and-coming Russian-Iranian projects in trade, economy, logistics and energy.

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Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian (right) welcomes his counterpart from South Africa Naledi Pandor (left) ahead of their meeting in Tehran, October 22, 2023. During her two-day official visit to Iran, the foreign ministers touched upon the Middle East peace process amid the ongoing Palestine-Israel conflict, adherence to international humanitarian law in the context of Gaza crisis, as well as the establishment of a Palestinian state.