Prominent Iraqi Shia jurist Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Sistani has offered condolences over the helicopter crash that martyred Iran’s President Raeisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

Ayatollah Sistani in a message issued on Monday 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 senior Iraqi 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 companions 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.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and two senior provincial officials along with crew members and bodyguards also died as a result of the crash.