Speculation quickly grew online as Iranian official media went through their usual routine of releasing scant and sometimes contradicting facts about the tragedy.
Some questioned if Raisi and the other seven passengers on board the chopper, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and numerous other top officials, had killed.
Were government officials stalling to make an announcement, or were they as clueless about their futures as the general public? They asked. “He is definitely dead,” one user remarked on the previous Twitter.
They are only gaining time to manage the problem.
There was also speculation about the cause of the accident, which occurred in a remote, hilly area during severe fog and rain.
