Helicopter carrying Iran’s president suffers a ‘hard landing,’ state TV says, and rescue is underway

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Last Updated: 11:06am

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi suffered a “hard landing” on Sunday, Iranian state media reported, without elaborating. Some began urging the public to pray for Raisi and the others on board as rescue crews sped through a misty, rural forest where his helicopter was believed to be.

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Raisi was traveling in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. State TV said the incident happened near Jolfa, a city on the border with with the nation of Azerbaijan, some 600 kilometers (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran. Later, the TV put it farther east near the village of Uzi, but details remained contradictory.

Traveling with Raisi were Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and other officials and bodyguards, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. One 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 himself.

Neither IRNA nor state TV offered any information on Raisi’s condition. However, hard-liners urged the public to pray for him. State TV later aired images of the faithful praying at Imam Reza Shrine in the city of Mashhad, one of Shiite Islam’s holiest sites, as well as in Qom and other locations across the country.

“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,” 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.”

He added: “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.”

Rescuers were attempting to reach the site, state TV said, but had been hampered by poor weather conditions. There had been heavy rain and fog reported with some wind. IRNA called the area a “forest” and the region is known to be mountainous as well. State TV aired images of SUVs racing through a wooded area.

A rescue helicopter tried to reach the area where authorities believe Raisi’s helicopter was, but it couldn’t land due to the heavy mist, emergency services spokesman Babak Yektaparast told IRNA.

Raisi had been on the border with 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, 63, is a hard-liner who formerly led the country’s judiciary. He is viewed as a protégé of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and some analysts have suggested he could replace the 85-year-old leader after his death or resignation from the role.

Raisi won Iran’s 2021 presidential election, a vote that saw the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history. Raisi is sanctioned by the U.S. 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 armed Russia in its war on Ukraine, as well as launched a massive drone-and-missile attack on Israel amid its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It also has continued arming proxy groups in the Mideast, like Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

The U.S. State Department said it was “closely following reports of a possible hard landing of a helicopter in Iran carrying the Iranian president and foreign minister.”

It added: “We have no further comment at this time.”

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22 Comments
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Now more than ever
Now more than ever
8 months ago

I can only hope there are no survivors

Normal
Normal
8 months ago

May we hear good news.

Now more than ever
Now more than ever
8 months ago

May hashem drowned them all amen

Yitzy
Yitzy
8 months ago

My prayer is that I hope Khomeini was on that helicopter as well and may we hear good news..

Now more than ever
Now more than ever
8 months ago

Don’t mess the jews ! We are protected above !!

Yussel
Yussel
8 months ago

Jeremiah 2:3 : Israel is sacred unto HaShem, the first of His grain; all who devour him shall bear guilt…evil shall come upon him….the word of HaShem.

GMalka
GMalka
8 months ago

O, happy day!

GRH
GRH
8 months ago

Noice!!

Insane
Insane
8 months ago

So sorry to hear that.i hope they said Allah akbar on the way down

Enough
Enough
8 months ago

It’s all Isreal’s fault
they responsible even if they had nothing to do with this

Bernhard H. Rosenberg
Bernhard H. Rosenberg
8 months ago

Group of Chabad Rabbis Call Iranian President Helicopter Crash “Divine Justice”

Chabad Rabbis, led by Rabbi Meir Abutbul from Chabad in Bat Yam, have called the Iranian President’s plane crash “Divine Justice”, seeming to confirm that the rumors of the Chabad inner circle cursing the Iranian state leadership using “secrets from the Kabbalah” to be true.

“The hangman from Tehran, he wanted to hang Jews, so God scattered him to the winds in a helicopter crash, him and his entire Israel-hating crew,” Rabbi Abutbul commented.

Just Sayin'
Just Sayin'
8 months ago

I think this is the only crash in history that everyone is hoping no one survived.

Robert Goldman
Robert Goldman
8 months ago

According to Iran’s news agency there were no signs of life when they reached the chopper..

I feel a dance party coming on..

Duvid
Duvid
8 months ago

My posts here were deleted by VIN.