Helicopter carrying Iran’s President Raisi crashes in foggy, mountainous region
- Intense search for Iran’s president after helicopter ‘hard landing’ in the country’s mountainous northwest
- Travelling with Ebrahim Raisi were Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and other officials
A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s foreign minister and other officials apparently crashed in the mountainous northwest reaches of Iran on Sunday, sparking a massive rescue operation in a fog-shrouded forest as the public was urged to pray.
The likely crash came as Iran under Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel last month and has enriched uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels.
Iran has also faced years of mass protests against its Shiite theocracy over an ailing economy and women’s rights – making the moment that much more sensitive for Tehran and the future of the country as war between Israel and Hamas inflames the wider Middle East.
Raisi was travelling in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. State TV said what it called a “hard landing” happened near Jolfa, a city on the border with the nation of Azerbaijan, some 600km (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran.
Later, state TV put it farther east near the village of Uzi, but details remained contradictory.