Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has offered her condolences following the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.
"I would like to express my solidarity and Italy's solidarity with the Iranian government and the Iranian people," Meloni told private broadcaster Canale 5 on Monday.
Meloni said she was in constant contact with European partners as well as the G7 leading industrialized nations, which include Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, the United States and Canada.
Raisi and eight other passengers, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, died when their helicopter went down on Sunday over mountainous terrain in dense fog in north-western Iran.
The cause of the crash is still unclear. Speculation arose as to whether the crash was due to bad weather, a technical defect in the helicopter or even sabotage.
"I see in these hours that the Iranian authorities recognize the hypothesis of the accident instead of conspiracy theories," said Meloni.
Raisi, who died at the age of 63, is said to have been responsible for countless of arrests and executions of political dissidents in 1988 when he served as public prosecutor.
