TEHRAN – The General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces issued a statement on Saturday to address new speculations surrounding the martyrdom of President Ebrahim Raisi, emphasizing that claims circulating on social media and various platforms "are often far from the truth."

According to the statement from the Armed Forces' communication center, these assertions "stem from either ignorance or deliberate misinformation."

On May 19, 2024, a helicopter crash in the mountainous region of East Azerbaijan Province claimed the lives of 8 individuals including President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian.

The officials were traveling to the city of Tabriz after the inauguration of the Qiz-Qalasi dam in a ceremony also attended by Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev.

Despite challenging conditions of heavy fog and rain, a diligent search and rescue operation successfully located the wreckage the following day.

President Raisi was laid to rest at the sacred Shrine of Imam Reza (AS) in Mashhad, where he was honored by the nation.

In its Saturday statement, the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces repeated previously disclosed findings from a thorough investigation which concluded that the incident was caused by "complex weather and geographical conditions," unequivocally ruling out any possibilities of technical failure, sabotage, or attack.