Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, a 63-year-old ultraconservative cleric who had once been seen as a potential successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, died in a helicopter crash alongside other high-ranking officials, including the country's foreign minister, on Sunday morning.
There is no indication what might have caused the crash, which happened in a remote, mountainous area of Iran's northwest.
The loss of Raisi, a conservative hardliner, is expected to sow further uncertainty in a country already buckling under significant economic and political strain, with tensions with nearby Israel at a dangerous high.
His death triggered both domestic and international reactions, with several of Iran's autocratic partners sending both condolences and effusive praise.
Inside Iran, where many of the country's restive youth population have grown tired of rule by conservative clerics, Raisi had a much more polarizing legacy. He was widely seen as a figure in which the Iranian hardline establishment had heavily invested in. But he also brutally quashed a youth-led uprising over repressive laws, such as the compulsory hijab, and continued to stamp out dissent in its aftermath.
Here are some of the stories that made headlines over the past week, as well as some photos that caught our eye.
