News - Middle East: Prominent Shia Muslim cleric and source of emulation Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani says he is saddened by the news of the passing away in a helicopter crash of Iranian president Ebrahim Raeisi and his colleagues.

In a message issued on Monday, Ayatollah Sistani, who is based in Iraq, offered his condolences to the “dignified Iranian nation” and officials of the country over the deaths of Raeisi and his entourage in the aviation accident that took place a day earlier in northwest Iran.
The globally revered cleric said the news of the deaths of Raisi and his colleagues had caused “sorrow and regret” to him as he asked the Almighty God to bestow patience and great reward to the families and relatives of the victims.
The helicopter carrying Raisi and his entourage crashed around afternoon on Sunday as it was on its way to Tabriz, the capital of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, from a location on the border with the Republic of Azerbaijan where the Iranian president had opened a major dam project.