New Delhi: Vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar will visit Iran on Wednesday (May 22) to attend an official ceremony to condole the deaths of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other officials in a helicopter crash two days ago.

A helicopter carrying the two Iranian leaders crashed in northwestern Iran on Sunday, where it was travelling in poor weather. Their deaths were confirmed on Monday.

India observed a day of mourning on Tuesday, with the flag flying at half-mast and the government cancelling official entertainment programs.

Officials opened a condolence book at Iran's embassy in Delhi. External affairs minister S. Jaishankar visited the embassy and signed the book on Tuesday.

“They [Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian] will always be remembered as friends of India who contributed immensely to the growth of the India-Iran relationship,” Jaishankar posted on his X (formerly Twitter) profile.

Raisi, a hardline conservative, was elected president of Iran in 2021, after losing his initial bid to unseat the moderate incumbent Hassan Rouhani in 2017.

He was widely regarded as one of the top candidates to be a successor to the country’s 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, whose office wields ultimate political and religious authority in Iran.

India has maintained close relations with Tehran, with an Indian consortium recently signing a long-term lease for Iranian port of Chabahar.

It also backed Iran’s successful candidature for an expanded BRICS forum.

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