TEHRAN, May 20 (MNA) – The head of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq Nechirvan Barzani offered condolences over the martyrdom of Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

Expressing his deepest condolences to the government and people of Iran, Barzani announced that Raeisi and Amir-Abdollahian's death deeply saddened him.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian have martyred in a helicopter crash in the northwestern province of East Azarbaijan.

The helicopter carrying President Raeisi and his accompanying delegation crashed on Sunday in the Dizmar forest, nestled between the cities of Varzaqan and Jolfa in East Azarbaijan Province.

It was transporting Raeisi, Amir-Abdollahian, East Azarbaijan Governor Malek Rahmati, Friday Prayers leader of the city of Tabriz Seyyed Mohammad Ali Al-e Hashem , and a member of the president’s bodyguard team Mahdi Mousavi. The helicopter’s pilot, co-pilot and crew were also among others on board the chopper.

President Raeisi and his accompanying delegation were returning from a ceremony to inaugurate a dam on the Aras River with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.

MNA