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Here’s your morning news update: An easy-to-read selection of our top stories.

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IRANIAN President Ebrahim Raisi has died after a horror helicopter crash this afternoon.

A major search and rescue operation took place in the last few hours trying to track down the president’s helicopter but his death has now been confirmed by Iranian state media.

AFP

Dubbed ‘The Butcher’ Raisi was a highly controversial man both in Iran and across the entire world[/caption]

AP

Raisi was last seen with the Azerbaijan president Ilham Aliyev to inaugurate a dam[/caption]

Islamic Republic News Agency

The final picture of the helicopter before it crashed near the Azerbaijani border[/caption]

STATE TV/UNPIXS

Rescuers rushed to the scene but struggled due to poor visibility[/caption]

Dubbed “The Butcher” for his tyrannical nature Raisi, 63, was travelling in a convoy of three helicopters in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province before reports say they suffered a “hard landing”.

An Iranian official told Reuters earlier on the “lives of President Raisi and Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahian are at risk following the helicopter crash”.

The chopper is still yet to be found as dreadful weather conditions have plagued the aerial search parties, the IRNA reported.

Leaving the highly time sensitive operations suspended.

Tabriz parliamentary representative Ahmad Alirezabighi told local media that there has still been no contact with the pilot or any of the people in the helicopter.

Despite the exact location of the crashed copter being unknown Iranian state TV say it was last heard from in Jolfa, a city on the border with with the nation of Azerbaijan – 375 miles northwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran.

Raisi came to power in 2021 in highly controversial circumstances as almost all of his potential opponents were banned from running under Iran’s shame vetting system.

As he was the only viable candidate, Raisi gained power with 62 per cent of votes.

However with just 28.9 million votes casted it proved to be the lowest turnout by percentage in the history of the state.

His unpopular nature was already proven four years earlier when he tried and failed to become president against Hassan Rouhani.

Butcher by name, butcher by nature

Activists have opposed Raisi’s rule in recent years saying the tyrant has a bloody history steeped in murder and executions.

He has been accused of ordering the torture of pregnant women before he became president as well as having prisoners thrown off cliffs.

But his most terrifying spell came as he is believed to have headed up a so-called “Death Commission” which ordered thousands to be killed in the massacre of 1988 in Iran.

Around 30,000 men, women and children in jails made up those who were lined up against a wall and brutally gunned down on Raisi’s orders, say his rivals.

The president was also regarded by the people of Iran as one of a select group of barbaric men who enjoyed stoning’s and beheading’s.

Iran has never acknowledged the mass executions and Raisi never addressed the allegations about his role in them.

As the sick regime still carries out a high number of executions a year.

Amnesty International previously said Raisi should face an investigation for “crimes against humanity”.

Amnesty chief Agnès Callamard said: “That Ebrahim Raisi has risen to the presidency instead of being investigated for the crimes against humanity of murder, enforced disappearance and torture, is a grim reminder that impunity reigns supreme in Iran.”

Unpixs

Search teams battled through torrid weather to try and find the helicopter and the president[/caption]

Alamy

People had been protesting against Raisi for some time over his terrifying reigme[/caption]

Alamy

Ebrahim Raisi back in the 1980’s when he was first given the nickname of The Butcher[/caption]

Make your mark too this voting day. Your voice counts – but only if you use it.

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