DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi suffered a “hard landing” on Sunday, Iranian state media reported, with out elaborating. Some started urging the general public to wish for Raisi and the others on board as rescue crews sped by means of a misty, rural forest the place his helicopter was believed to be.
Raisi was touring in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. State TV mentioned the incident occurred close to Jolfa, a metropolis 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 close to the village of Uzi, however particulars remained contradictory.
Traveling with Raisi had been Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and different officers and bodyguards, the state-run IRNA information company reported. One native authorities official used the phrase “crash” to explain the incident, however he acknowledged to an Iranian newspaper that he had but to achieve the positioning himself.
Neither IRNA nor state TV supplied any data on Raisi’s situation. However, hard-liners urged the general public to wish for him. State TV later aired pictures of the trustworthy praying at Imam Reza Shrine within the metropolis of Mashhad, one among Shiite Islam’s holiest websites, in addition to in Qom and different areas throughout the nation.
“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 mentioned in feedback 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 had been making an attempt to achieve the positioning, state TV mentioned, however had been hampered by poor climate situations. There had been heavy rain and fog reported with some wind. IRNA known as the realm a “forest” and the area is thought to be mountainous as effectively. State TV aired pictures of SUVs racing by means of a wooded space.
A rescue helicopter tried to achieve the realm the place authorities imagine Raisi’s helicopter was, nevertheless it couldn’t land as a result of heavy mist, emergency companies spokesman Babak Yektaparast instructed 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 which the 2 nations constructed on the Aras River. The go to got here regardless of chilly relations between the 2 nations, together with over a gun assault on Azerbaijan’s Embassy in Tehran in 2023, and Azerbaijan’s diplomatic relations with Israel, which Iran’s Shiite theocracy views as its foremost enemy within the area.
Iran flies a wide range of helicopters within the nation, however worldwide sanctions make it troublesome to acquire elements for them. Its army air fleet additionally largely dates again to earlier than the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Raisi, 63, is a hard-liner who previously led the nation’s judiciary. He is considered as a protégé of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a few analysts have steered he may exchange the 85-year-old chief after his dying or resignation from the position.
Raisi gained Iran’s 2021 presidential election, a vote that noticed the bottom turnout within the Islamic Republic’s historical past. Raisi is sanctioned by the U.S. partially over his involvement within the mass execution of hundreds of political prisoners in 1988 on the finish of the bloody Iran-Iraq warfare.
Under Raisi, Iran now enriches uranium at practically weapons-grade ranges and hampers worldwide inspections. Iran has armed Russia in its warfare on Ukraine, in addition to launched a large drone-and-missile assault on Israel amid its warfare in opposition to Hamas within the Gaza Strip. It additionally has continued arming proxy teams within the Mideast, like Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
The U.S. State Department mentioned 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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Associated Press author Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
