Helicopter Carrying Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi Crashed: Iranian Official Agency Confirms (Image: IRNA)
A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and senior officials in northwestern Iran crashed with no information available on the potential casualties or damage as of now. As per Iran”s press agency IRNA, the incident occurred in the Dizmar forest between Varzaqan and Jolfa in East Azarbaijan province on Sunday. The helicopter crashed close to a copper mine called Sungun, which is roughly 70 km to 100 km away from the city of Tabriz, which is one of the largest cities in Iran.
As per Aljazeera, Iran”s President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian along with the East Azerbaijan Governor Malek Rahmati and Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, representative of the Iranian supreme leader to East Azerbaijan were onboard. IRNA said that President Raisi and other officials were returning from a ceremony to open a dam on Iran”s border with Azerbaijan.
“More than twenty fully-equipped search and rescue teams, including drones and sniffer dogs, have been dispatched to the areas. The Iranian Armed Forces have also deployed commando units and Special Forces to assist in the search operation,” IRNA reported. However, the search and rescue operation team is having difficulty due to the region”s rugged terrain and thick fog in the area, it stated further.
Iranian state television said that the crash occurred due to adverse weather conditions.
As per the reports, the details of the incident are still unclear as there were rumors that the Iranian president was not on board as he was in a car on the way to Tabriz.
According to the analysts, Ebrahim Raisi, the conservative politician was a “heavyweight” in Iranian politics and thought to be a potential successor to Iran”s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In the political hierarchy, the head of the state is Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the president is considered as the head of the government in Iran. Moreover, in the case of sudden death, the first vice president takes the job of the President, with the approval of the supreme leader and in 50 days the country needs to go to an election to choose a new president.
As per the reports, a US State Department spokesperson said that the United States is watching reports of a possible hard landing carrying the Iranian President and other officials.
