Iranian state television said there were “no signs of life” at the site of the helicopter carrying President Ibrahim Raisi when it crashed in the country’s northwest.
State media reported that Iranian emergency crews had earlier located the crash site and reported seeing debris. Location – near the village of Tawil in northwestern Iran.
Thick fog in the region has complicated search efforts, state media reported. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on people to pray for Raisi’s health and said there would be “no disruption to the country’s affairs” as a result of the incident, according to a statement broadcast on state television.
Raisi, an ultra-conservative cleric in his 60s who won Iran’s 2021 presidential election, is considered the favorite to eventually succeed Supreme Leader Khamenei.
The incident occurred during unrest in the Middle East due to the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Iran-backed Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union. It has brought Iran and Israel to the brink of full-scale conflict and led other Tehran-backed groups, including the Houthis in Yemen and Shiite militias in Iraq, to attack American bases and merchant ships in the Red Sea.
Raisi’s air fleet consisted of three helicopters carrying senior officials, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. Amirabdollahian was believed to be on board Raisi’s plane at the time.
The United States is closely monitoring reports of the incident, a State Department spokesman said, without further comment. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Sunday that intelligence agencies told him there was no evidence of foul play, NBC reported.
‘Extremely difficult’ search
After nearly 10 hours, the search was “extremely difficult” due to darkness, heavy fog and rain, Pirhossein Koulivand, head of Iran’s Emergency Medical Service, told state television. Earlier, Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said the search for the presidential helicopter would likely take time due to unfavorable conditions.
Turkey’s state disaster management agency AFAD said Iran had requested a search and rescue helicopter with night vision capabilities. Some 32 rescue and research personnel, as well as six vehicles, were also sent to Iran, AFAD said in a statement on X.
Turkey’s Defense Ministry said it sent the Akinci drone in response to Iran’s request. He also said the Cougar helicopter remains operational and can be deployed depending on weather conditions.
The European Union activated its rapid response mapping service following a request for help from Iran, the bloc’s crisis management commissioner Janez Lenarcic said in a post on X.
Iranian television showed live footage of dozens of ambulances in heavy rain and fog. A reporter near the rescue crews mentioned problems with access to the crash site, citing impassable roads due to mud and the remoteness of the area.
The broadcast also showed pilgrims praying for Raisi at a shrine in Mashhad, the northeastern city where Raisi was born.
According to Iranian media reports, the governor of East Azerbaijan province and the Supreme Leader’s representative in the city of Tabriz were also on board Raisi’s helicopter.
Both Raisi and Amirabdollahian oversaw the restoration of Iran’s diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia through a Chinese-brokered deal announced in March 2023. But it was a time when negotiations to revive Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers and lift economic sanctions had stalled. .
Earlier on Sunday, Raisi met his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev to inaugurate a jointly built dam on the border between the two countries. The incident occurred when Raisi was returning from the Iranian province of East Azerbaijan.
Raisi’s ascension to the presidency comes after eight years under the relatively moderate Hassan Rouhani, who played a central role in the nuclear agreement from which former President Donald Trump withdrew the United States in 2018.
The US withdrawal from the agreement has given strength to Iranian hardliners, who have always been critical of the agreement. Raisi was sanctioned in 2019 by the Trump administration, which cited his role in a brutal decade-old crackdown on protesters alleging voter fraud.
Human rights groups also accuse him of facilitating the mass executions of thousands of political dissidents in the late 1980s. In 2018, London-based Amnesty International said he chaired a “death commission” and called for the United Nations to investigate his crimes against humanity.
Raisi’s first vice president is Mohammad Mokhber, who has represented Iran on many recent trips abroad and who, like many senior Iranian officials, reports to US sanctions.