A chopper carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi suffered a “hard landing” on Sunday due to heavy fog on the way back, news agency Reuters reported citing Iranian state television. Meanwhile, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, is reportedly holding an emergency meeting with the National Security Council.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other officials were also present in the chopper along with Raisi, news agency Reuters reported citing Iran’s news agencies.
Media outlet EHA News in a series of posts on X earlier claimed that the chopper carrying Raisi had crashed without elaborating. However, News18 could not independently verify the claims made.
The Iranian state-run media outlets said Raisi was travelling in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and that the incident happened near Jolfa, a city on the border with the nation of Azerbaijan, some 600 kilometres (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran. IRNA called the area where the incident happened a “forest.”
However, no official confirmation has been received from the Iranian government.
News agency AFP also reported that a helicopter in the convoy of Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi was involved in “an accident”.
Rescue Teams Dispatched, Search Operation On
As per Iranian state-run PressTV, ambulances and rescue teams have been dispatched to find the copter carrying President Raeisi and three other officials. The rescue teams are trying to locate the spot where the incident happened after tackling inclement weather and also shared a video of the incident. News18 could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.
The Chief of Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces informed that the armed forces of the country have joined the search operation.
Rescue teams are trying to locate the area where presidential copter made hard-landing pic.twitter.com/WkJoJcCKh5— Press TV (@PressTV) May 19, 2024
Heavy rains and poor weather are hampering the efforts of rescuers to reach the site. Heavy rain with wind are being reported from the area.
Raisi Visiting Azerbaijan
Raisi was in neighbouring Azerbaijan early Sunday to inaugurate a dam with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev. The dam is the third one that the two nations built on the Aras River.
The visit came despite chilly relations between the two nations, including over a gun attack on Azerbaijan’s Embassy in Tehran in 2023, and Azerbaijan’s diplomatic relations with Israel, which Iran’s Shiite theocracy views as its main enemy in the region.
Iran flies a variety of helicopters in the country, but international sanctions make it difficult to obtain parts for them. Its military air fleet also largely dates back to before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Raisi won Iran’s 2021 presidential election, but the voting saw the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history. Raisi is sanctioned by the US in part over his involvement in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 at the end of the bloody Iran-Iraq war.
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