Rescuers tried to reach the site but were hampered by bad weather, state television reported. Heavy rain and fog were reported with light winds. IRNA news agency described the area where the helicopter made a bad landing as a forest area.
A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi made a hard landing on Sunday, Iranian state media reported. Raisi traveled to East Azerbaijan province of Iran.
The incident took place near the town of Jolba, which borders Azerbaijan, about 600 kilometers (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran, Iranian state television said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amiraptolahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and other officials traveled with President Ibrahim Raisi, state-run IRNA news agency reported.
A local government official used the word ‘accident’ to describe the incident. But he admitted to an Iranian newspaper that he has not reached that point yet. Neither IRNA nor state television provided any information on Raisi’s condition.
Rescuers tried to reach the site but were hampered by bad weather, state television reported. Heavy rain and fog were reported with light winds. IRNA news agency described the area where the helicopter made a bad landing as a forest area.
Raisi had arrived in Azerbaijan early on Sunday to inaugurate a dam with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. This is the third dam jointly built by the two countries on the Aras River.
The visit comes despite strained relations between the two countries, including the 2023 gun attack on Azerbaijan’s embassy in Tehran and Azerbaijan’s diplomatic ties with Israel, which it considers its main adversary in Iran’s Sheide region.
Various helicopters are operated in Iran. But it is difficult to get spare parts for them due to international restrictions. Its Air Force also predates the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Ibrahim Raisi, 63, is a tough guy who previously headed the country’s judiciary. He is seen as a protégé of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Also, some analysts have suggested that the 85-year-old leader could be replaced after his death or resignation from office.
Raisi won Iran’s 2021 presidential election. It saw the lowest turnout in the history of the Islamic Republic. Raisi was sanctioned by the United States for his involvement in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners at the end of the bloody Iran-Iraq war in 1988.
Under Raisi, Iran now enriches uranium to near weapons-grade levels and blocks international inspections. Iran has armed Russia in its war on Ukraine. Similarly, Israel has launched massive drone and missile strikes in the midst of its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It continues to arm armed groups in the Middle East, such as Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
