The Iranian authorities reported on Sunday that a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi crashed while it was transporting him in the far north of the country. Raisi’s health and that of Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, who was also on the plane, has not been made public as temperatures fall at night in the mountain region.
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It crashed in the early afternoon of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province sending military drones and dozens of rescue teams to the area state media reported.
Turkish drone has found a heat source and officials claim that they managed to communicate with some of the passengers aboard the helicopter. However, despite hours of searching, emergency crews have not yet been able to access the crash site due to claims of fog as well as extreme cold weather conditions.
A regional commander for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps revealed late on Sunday night that they have pinpointed the exact location of the crash after they receive a signal from the helicopter and the mobile phone of one of the crew – IRNA.
‘Military forces are on their way to the location and hopefully, they will be able to provide some good news’, the commander is quoted to have said.
It happens at a particularly delicate moment at home for Tehran and almost seven months into Israel’s operation against Hamas in Gaza that has further escalated tensions across the Middle East and brought the decades-long covert conflict between Israel and Iran into the open. Last month Iran launched an almost unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel — its first ever direct attack on the country — in retaliation for a deadly apparent Israeli airstrike on Iran’s consulate in Damascus.
Iran’s hardline leadership has been tested in recent years with mass protests against religious rule and poor economic performance mostly led by youths. Iranian officials have begun a broader crackdown on anti-regime activities after protests erupted in September 2022 over the killing of Mahsa Amini by Iran’s morality police.
The picture is a snapshot of a video released by Tasnim News showing search and rescue operations in East Azerbaijan, Iran. Tasnim News via X
Iran’s official Instagram channel and the national broadcaster have asked Iranians to pray for the president and his delegation.
Iran’s highest authority, Ayatollah Khamenei, also repeated the call in a video address, urging people to “pray for the recovery of this group of servants. … Citizens of Iran, there is no need to panic. The work of the country will not be interrupted. ”
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