Iran announced Monday it will hold presidential elections on June 28, state media reported, following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage in a helicopter crash.

“The election calendar was approved at the meeting of the heads of the judiciary, government, and parliament,” state television reported. “According to the initial agreement of the Guardian Council, it was decided that the 14th presidential election will be held on June 28.”

First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber was named as interim president on Monday, in the interim. 

Rescue teams carry a body following a crash of a helicopter carrying Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, in Varzaqan, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran, May 20, 2024. (Credit: Stringer/WANA [West Asia News Agency] via Reuters)

The helicopter was one in a convoy of three helicopters returning to Tehran on Sunday afternoon from an event inaugurating a new dam along Iran's border with Azerbaijan. It crashed "due to a technical failure," Iran’s IRNA news agency reported. The agency did not specify the nature of the helicopter's malfunction.

Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri ordered "a high-ranking committee to launch an investigation into the cause of the president's helicopter crash," the ISNA news agency reported. 

The strewn wreckage of the helicopter, which was carrying Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and six other passengers and crew on board, was found early on Monday after an overnight search marred by heavy fog and mountainous terrain. There were no survivors.

A view of the wreckage of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi's helicopter at the crash site on a mountain in Varzaghan area, northwestern Iran, May 20, 2024. (Credit: Stringer/WANA [West Asia News Agency] via Reuters)

The helicopter carrying the Iranian officials and crew was a Bell 212, according to state media and photographs verified by The Washington Post. A civilian version of the ubiquitous Vietnam War-era UH-1N "Twin Huey," such helicopters are widely used by governments, armed forces,  and private operators around the globe. The Bell 212 helicopter was designed in 1968 and introduced in 1971.

Iran has kept its civil and military aviation fleets flying during its isolation since the 1979 revolution through a combination of smuggled parts and reverse-engineering, according to Western analysts, cited by Reuters.

Rescue teams work following a crash of a helicopter carrying Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, in Varzaqan, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran, May 20, 2024. (Credit: Stringer/WANA [West Asia News Agency] via Reuters)

The US State Department said Iran had asked Washington for assistance following reports that the helicopter had taken a "hard landing" due to poor weather conditions, in the mountains near the Azerbaijan border. Ultimately, the US was unable to provide help largely for logistical reasons, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters. Raisi's death does not change the fundamental US stance toward Iran, Miller said.