PUTRAJAYA, The Cabinet today expressed condolences over the loss of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash in northwest Iran on Sunday, said Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil.

‘It was a tragic accident … it has an impact; we offer our condolences,’ he said at a post-Cabinet meeting press conference here.

Fahmi, who is also the Unity Government spokesman, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at the Cabinet meeting recalled his two previous meetings with Raisi and described the Malaysia-Iran relationship as having become closer.

Anwar, in a Facebook post yesterday (May 20), also shared a photo of him meeting Raisi at the United Nations General Assembly in New York last November.

Raisi’s helicopter crashed in the Varzaqan area while he was returning with Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and six others from a ceremony to inaugurate dams on the Iran-Azerbaijan border.

Iranian Red Crescent Society president Pir-Hossein Kolivand yesterday said all on board the
helicopter were killed.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency