A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is believed to have crashed on Sunday, with unknown consequences.
Iranian state TV reported that the helicopter from Raisi had a “hard landing”.
Raisi was on a trip to the Iranian province of East Azerbaijan. State television reported that the incident occurred near the town of Jolfa, which borders Azerbaijan, about 600 km northwest of Iran’s capital, Tehran.
According to state television, rescuers tried to reach the scene but were hampered by bad weather in the area. Heavy rain and wind were reported.
Raisi was in Azerbaijan on Sunday morning, where together with the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, he solemnly opened the dam. This dam is the third that both countries have built on the Arax River.
Iran uses various types of helicopters in the country, but international sanctions make it difficult to obtain spare parts for them. Its air force was also largely formed before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
According to the Tasnim news agency, there were three helicopters in the convoy, two of which were carrying ministers and officials, and they arrived safely at their destination.
Seyyed Mohammad-Ali Al-Hashem, the Friday prayer imam in Tabriz, and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were also reportedly in the helicopter with the president.
“Given the phone call made by one of the president’s companions to the central headquarters after the accident, there is considerable hope that there were no casualties,” Tasnim reports.
At the same time, the IRNA agency reports that the helicopter from Raisi crashed and “crashed on landing”, but there is currently no information on possible casualties or damage.
Iran supports Russia in its war of aggression against Ukraine. In particular, it sells Shahed drones to the aggressor country, with which the Russian Federation constantly attacks Ukrainian territory. In addition, according to analysts, Iran was building factories for the production of drones in Russia and Belarus.
In April, Iran launched a massive air attack on Israel using missiles and drones in response to an IDF strike on the consulate complex in Damascus that killed several members of the IRGC.
On May 14, the Council of the EU agreed to expand the sanctions mechanism against Iran for its support to Russia in the war against Ukraine and destructive actions in the Middle East.