The helicopter crash that killed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, along with other high-ranking officials, has sent shock waves across the Middle East.

Raisi was returning home on Sunday after traveling to Iran's border with Azerbaijan to inaugurate a dam with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev when the helicopter experienced a "hard landing" in the remote mountainous region of East Azerbaijan province, according to state media. The circumstances of the crash remain unclear.

Many different assumptions and unconfirmed reports are now likely to circulate in Iran, said Sara Bazoobandi, Iran expert at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies think tank in Hamburg.

"The cause could have been an accident or material fatigue, but also sabotage, possibly involving someone from within Raisi's political circle. Nothing can be ruled out, everything is conceivable," she said.

Iranians would likely be hoping for more details regarding the crash to emerge in the coming days and weeks, she added.

Iran's Islamic clerical regime, meanwhile, has been trying to maintain order and normalcy.

The Cabinet vowed that the government's work will go on "without the slightest disruption" and said that "we assure the loyal nation that the path of service will continue with the tireless spirit of Ayatollah Raisi."

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The Guardian Council, an archconservative supervisory body, also declared: "With God's help, the affairs of the nation and the people will continue without interruption."

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