Helicopter carrying Iran’s president suffers ‘crash:’ State TV

A helicopter with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on board suffered a “crash landing” on Sunday, state media reported, with weather conditions complicating rescue efforts.

Raisi’s condition was unclear, in keeping with state news reports, which also aired prayers for his safety. Late Sunday afternoon, Iran’s Vice President Mohsen Mansouri reported that two people from the helicopter flight had made contact with the rescue team. It was unknown if Raisi was one in all those two passengers.

Because the search commenced, Iranian state media reported the situation of the helicopter crash had been identified.

The commander of the East Azerbaijan Army said that a signal from the helicopter and a cellphone belonging to one in all the crew members on the accident site was received “minutes ago.”

“Immediately, we’re leaving with all of the military forces to the realm in query, and I hope to offer excellent news to the people,” the commander said.

At the very least 40 rescue teams, including drones and search dogs, have been deployed, but harsh weather and heavy fog in the realm were making it difficult for them to achieve the positioning, state media said.

Eight ambulances have been dispatched to the crash site and fog was stopping air rescue, it added.

Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, was also traveling within the helicopter, together with East Azerbaijan’s governor, Malik Rahmati, and Raisi’s security detail, it said. State TV IRIB said the helicopter belonged to the Iranian Red Crescent, which Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said was part of a bigger convoy. Their condition was also unknown.

“Various rescue groups are moving towards the positioning, but attributable to the fog and bad weather, it could take time to achieve the realm,” Vahidi said in comments aired on state media.

The officials were coming back from the border with the country of Azerbaijan — within the northwest of Iran, some 375 miles from the capital of Tehran — where Raisi was inaugurating a dam on the Aras river with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev. Initially, reports put the incident near town of Jolfa, but later said it was farther east near the village of Uzi. Details remain contradictory.

“Azerbaijan stands able to offer any assistance needed,” Aliyev said in a post on X. “We were profoundly troubled by the news of a helicopter carrying the highest delegation crash-landing in Iran.”

State media showed Red Crescent rescuers moving through dense fog with only a number of meters of visibility, and said the helicopter is believed to have crashed in a rural forest.

With no clarity on Raisi’s condition, fearful Iranians began offering prayers, with dozens gathering in town of Qom, a holy city for Shiite Muslims, state media showed. Raisi’s Instagram page also posted a story asking people to wish for him.

Although Raisi is the elected president and leads the federal government, he still answers to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who serves as the pinnacle of state.

In case of Raisi’s death, Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber will probably be next in line for the presidency after receiving a nod from Khamenei. A recent president then should be elected in 50 days.

The Qiz Qalasi Dam is the third dam jointly built by Iran and neighboring Azerbaijan and took almost twenty years to finish, in keeping with state media.

While Iran flies a spread of helicopters, international sanctions have made it difficult for Tehran to acquire the required parts for them. A lot of the helicopters operated by the military date back to before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Raisi, 63, is himself under sanctions by the U.S. over his involvement within the mass execution of hundreds of political prisoners in 1988 at the top of the bloody Iran-Iraq war.

He was re-elected in 2021, during an election that saw the bottom turnout within the Islamic Republic’s history. A tough-liner, Raisi formerly led the country’s judiciary and is viewed as a protégé of Khamenei, and a possible contender to the throne.

The death of Mahsa Amini in police custody two years ago triggered a wave of protests across the country that mushroomed into the biggest challenge to the theocratic regime since its founding in 1979. The federal government rounded up protesters in a violent crackdown that killed tons of of individuals.

In an interview with NBC News last yr, Raisi defended the federal government’s response, warning that those that attempt to sow instability within the Islamic Republic would pay a “big cost.”

Under Raisi, Iran now enriches uranium at nearly weapons-grade levels and hampers international inspections. Iran has armed Russia in its war on Ukraine, in addition to launched a large drone-and-missile attack on Israel amid its war against Hamas within the Gaza Strip. It also has continued arming proxy groups within the Middle East including Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

It is a developing story. Check back for updates.

The Associated Press contributed.