The Islamic Republic of Iran’s president and foreign minister are presumed dead after a helicopter crash on Sunday while they were traveling in the eastern part of the country.

The helicopter carrying President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian crashed in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province after encountering extremely thick fog.

Reports began to break early on Monday that the site of the crash had been located and “no signs of life” were observed by rescuers.

BREAKING:’No sign of life’ detected at crash site of helicopter carrying President Ebrahim Raisi, others, Iran state TV says https://t.co/Xb5LLyJdwY

— The Associated Press (@AP) May 20, 2024

One official told Reuters, “President Raisi’s helicopter was completely burned in the crash … unfortunately, all passengers are feared dead.”

Raisi was a hardliner who helped oversee the mass execution of thousands political prisoners in 1988 after Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa ordering it. There have been widespread allegations in Iran that Raisi only came to power because of a rigged election.

Abdollahian was also a hardliner who had close ties to numerous Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO), including Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and Palestinian groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said in comments aired on state TV that they were “on their way back aboard some helicopters and one of the helicopters was forced to make a hard landing due to the bad weather and fog.”

He said that the rescue crews had a difficult time locating and reaching the crash site due to the weather conditions, the rugged terrain in the region, and the loss of light.

The officials were returning from a trip to Azerbaijan early on Sunday where they attended an inauguration of a new dam on the Aras River with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.

“Today, after bidding a friendly farewell to the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, we were profoundly troubled by the news of a helicopter carrying the top delegation crash-landing in Iran,” said Aliyev. “Our prayers to Allah Almighty are with President Ebrahim Raisi and the accompanying delegation. As a neighbor, friend, and brotherly country, the Republic of Azerbaijan stands ready to offer any assistance needed.”

This is a breaking news story; refresh the page for updates.

President Joe Biden challenged former president Donald Trump to debates last week because Biden needs to swivel the political spotlight away from his record ahead of the election, according to Daily Wire editor emeritus Ben Shapiro.

Shapiro, who co-founded The Daily Wire, appeared on Fox News’ “Life, Liberty, and Levin” with host Mark Levin on Saturday evening and analyzed the state of the presidential race so far. Biden shook up the race last week agreeing to two debates ahead of November after months of needling from Trump.

“[Biden] believes that if he just says ‘January 6’ then ‘Trump’ over and over and over, then he’s going to win. Presumably, that is why he is now acceding to a debate with Trump,” Shapiro said. “He realizes that this election is a referendum on him. He’s hoping that if he can get Trump on stage, he can make the election a referendum on Donald Trump.”

If recent polls are accurate, Biden needs to shake up the race to avoid losing his reelection bid to his predecessor. Trump is beating Biden in every key battleground state with leads ranging from 0.6 in Wisconsin to 6.2 in Nevada, according to Real Clear Politics polling averages.

Biden is skeptical about the state of his campaign as reflected in polling, according to Axios.

“While the press doesn’t write about it, the momentum is clearly in our favor, with the polls moving towards us and away from Trump,” Biden told donors recently.

In an interview with CNN, the president said: “The polling data has been wrong all along. How many — you guys do a poll at CNN. How many folks you have to call to get one response?”

Shapiro said the president’s trouble acknowledging his poor performance in numerous polls is “the mark of a losing campaign.”

For Trump, the aim of a debate should be to keep the focus of the campaign on Biden’s poor governance, the Daily Wire co-founder said.

“If Donald Trump during those debates simply stands there and points physically at Joe Biden, Donald Trump will be president again,” Shapiro said. “The reality is most Americans, most moderates care far less about the supposed threat of Donald Trump to the democracy. He was president before, he didn’t threaten democracy. He was actually pretty good at the job. [Americans] are much less worried about that than they are about Joe Biden wrecking the country day by day.”

.@benshapiro explaining why Joe Biden is in trouble in the upcoming election. pic.twitter.com/3E8IUqeS3Z

— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) May 19, 2024