A rescue operation is under way in the mountains close to the Iranian-Azerbaijani border after one of the helicopters in a convoy carrying Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, was involved in a “hard landing” on Sunday, according to Iranian state media.
An Iranian official told Reuters that the lives of Raisi and the foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian – who was travelling with him – were “at risk following the helicopter crash”. They added: “We are still hopeful, but information coming from the crash site is very concerning.”
Neither the state-run IRNA news agency nor state television offered any information on Raisi’s condition, but prayers were broadcast for the safety of the president, who had been travelling in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province.
State TV said the incident happened near Jolfa, a city on the border with Azerbaijan, about 375 miles (600km) north-west of the Iranian capital, Tehran.
The network broadcast footage of an Iranian Red Crescent team walking up a slope in thick fog, as well as live footage of crowds of worshippers reciting prayers in the holy shrine of Imam Reza in the city Mashhad, Raisi’s hometown.
The chief of staff of Iran’s army ordered all the resources of the army and the elite Revolutionary Guard to be put to use in the search and rescue operations. The rescue teams were expected to reach the site of the crash later on Sunday evening, state TV reported.
IRNA said Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian had been travelling with the governor of East Azerbaijan and other officials. A local government official used the word “crash” to describe the incident, but he acknowledged to an Iranian newspaper that he had yet to reach the site.
“The esteemed president and company were on their way back aboard some helicopters and one of the helicopters was forced to make a hard landing due to the bad weather and fog,” Iran’s interior minister, Ahmad Vahidi, said in comments aired on state TV. “Various rescue teams are on their way to the region, but because of the poor weather and fogginess, it might take time for them to reach the helicopter.
“The region is a bit [rugged] and it’s difficult to make contact. We are waiting for rescue teams to reach the landing site and give us more information.”
Raisi had been in Azerbaijan early on Sunday to inaugurate a dam with the country’s president, Ilham Aliyev. The dam is the third that the two nations have 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 Shia theocracy views as its main enemy in the region.
Iran owns a number of helicopters, but international sanctions make it difficult to obtain parts for them. Most of its military air fleet pre-dates the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Raisi, 63, is a hardliner who formerly led the country’s judiciary. He is viewed as a protege of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and some analysts have suggested that he could replace the 85-year-old leader.
He won Iran’s 2021 presidential election, for which the turnout was the lowest in the Islamic Republic’s history. Raisi is under sanctions 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.
Under Raisi, Iran now enriches uranium at nearly weapons-grade levels and hampers international inspections. Iran has supplied arms to Russia in its war on Ukraine, and launched a substantial drone and missile attack on Israel. It continues to arm proxy groups in the Middle East, such as Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report
