A helicopter carrying President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran crashed in the northwestern part of the country, the interior minister said Sunday, sparking a massive rescue operation to a mountainous area shrouded in heavy fog.
Rescue teams haven’t been able to locate the aircraft, the minister said, without providing any information on the president’s condition. Also aboard the helicopter was the foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, state TV said.
If the 63-year-old president is dead or incapacitated, the crash would deprive Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of a longtime ally and potential successor as Tehran angles for regional dominance through armed militias that are fighting the U.S. and Israel.
Drones, dogs and search and rescue teams were being used to try to locate the helicopter as fog and bad weather made the work difficult, the interior minister, Ahmad Vahidi, said on Iranian state television.
“On Sunday afternoon, a helicopter carrying the President, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and several companions unfortunately had an accident in the Varzaghan region of East Azerbaijan province,” said a statement from the foreign ministry.
Raisi’s security detail and crew members were also flying with him, along with the governor of the East Azerbaijan province and a senior local cleric.
Iran government spokesman Ali Bahadori-Jahromi said at 8 p.m. in Tehran, about five hours after the crash, that there was no news on the status of the passengers, given the remote location of the site and inclement weather.
Source: https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-ea...ns-president-makes-difficult-landing-d51329d7
Rescue teams haven’t been able to locate the aircraft, the minister said, without providing any information on the president’s condition. Also aboard the helicopter was the foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, state TV said.
If the 63-year-old president is dead or incapacitated, the crash would deprive Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of a longtime ally and potential successor as Tehran angles for regional dominance through armed militias that are fighting the U.S. and Israel.
Drones, dogs and search and rescue teams were being used to try to locate the helicopter as fog and bad weather made the work difficult, the interior minister, Ahmad Vahidi, said on Iranian state television.
“On Sunday afternoon, a helicopter carrying the President, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and several companions unfortunately had an accident in the Varzaghan region of East Azerbaijan province,” said a statement from the foreign ministry.
Raisi’s security detail and crew members were also flying with him, along with the governor of the East Azerbaijan province and a senior local cleric.
Iran government spokesman Ali Bahadori-Jahromi said at 8 p.m. in Tehran, about five hours after the crash, that there was no news on the status of the passengers, given the remote location of the site and inclement weather.
Source: https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-ea...ns-president-makes-difficult-landing-d51329d7
