“This is why accidents like this happen quite often in Iran.”
Iranian state media reported that the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi suffered a “hard landing” on Sunday , without going into details.
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ibrahim Raisi toured the Iranian province of East Azerbaijan. State television said the incident happened near Jolfa, a town on the border with Azerbaijan, about 600 kilometers northwest of the capital Tehran.
Traveling with Raisi on the ill-fated helicopter were Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran's East Azerbaijan province and other officials, state news agency IRNA reported. One local government official used the word “accident” to describe the incident, but in an interview with an Iranian newspaper he admitted that he had not yet been to the scene.
Neither IRNA nor state television provided any information about the condition Raisi, notes the Associated Press.
The authorities sent the army, police and workers of the Iranian Red Crescent Society to the scene of the emergency. State television reported that rescuers tried to quickly reach the scene but were hampered by bad weather conditions. Heavy rain, fog and strong winds were reported. The IRNA agency called this area a “forest.”
«Some of the president's companions in the helicopter were able to contact Central Headquarters, raising hopes that the incident could have ended without casualties,» Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency said.
The helicopter was part of a motorcade of three helicopters. According to Tasnim, two of these helicopters carried ministers and officials who arrived safely at their destination.
“It is reported that Seyyed Mohammad-Ali Al-Hashim, the imam of Friday prayers in Tabriz, and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were also in the helicopter with the president,” Tasnim reported.
Interior Minister Amir Vahidi said state television said various rescue teams were trying to reach the scene, but it could take some time due to fog and bad weather conditions. He confirmed that radio contact had been established with the helicopter, but did not provide any additional details.
Government news site IRNA reported that the president's helicopter was believed to have crashed in the Dizmar protected area, a wooded and mountainous area.
Raisi arrived in Azerbaijan early Sunday morning to join Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in inaugurating dam, reports the Associated Press. This is the third dam built by the two countries on the Araks River.
As RIA Novosti notes, in Azerbaijan, Ibrahim Raisi, together with President Aliyev, took part in the commissioning ceremony of the Khudaferin hydroelectric complex and the opening of the Giz Galasy hydroelectric complex.
The Iranian president's visit to the neighboring Transcaucasian republic took place despite frosty relations between the two countries, including a gun attack on the Azerbaijani 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, emphasizes the Associated Press.
Iran operates a variety of helicopters in the country, but international sanctions make it difficult to acquire spare parts for them. Its air force also largely predates the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Reporting from Tehran on Sunday, Al Jazeera's Resul Serdar said that «helicopters and planes used in Iran , are quite outdated.”
“That’s why accidents like this happen quite often in Iran,” the reporter explained.
As the Associated Press recalls, Raisi, 63, a hardliner, previously headed the country's judiciary. He is considered a protégé of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and some analysts have speculated that he could replace the 85-year-old leader of the Islamic Republic after his death or departure from that post.
Ibrahim Raisi won Iran's presidential election in 2021, which saw the lowest voter turnout in the history of the Islamic Republic. Raisi is under U.S. sanctions in part because of accusations that he was involved in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 at the end of the bloody Iran-Iraq War.
Under Raisi, Iran is now enriching uranium to near weapons-grade levels and preventing international inspections. Iran has supported Russia in its conflict with Ukraine and has also launched a massive drone and missile attack on Israel during its war in the Gaza Strip. Opponents also accuse Tehran of continuing to arm proxy groups in the Middle East, such as Yemen's Houthis and Lebanon's Hezbollah.
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