A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi experienced a “hard landing” on Sunday, according to Iranian state media.
Iranian media, according to multiple reports, said rescue teams were sent to the site in the Dizmar forest, between the towns of Varzaqan and Jolfa, in Iran's East Azerbaijan province, near its border with Azerbaijan.
The circumstances of the incident remain unclear, with Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi initially saying the helicopter “was forced to make a forced landing due to bad weather and fog.”
Search teams later told Iranian state television that officials found the helicopter and contacted a passenger and a crew member, although that could not be confirmed.
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A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi experienced a “hard landing” on Sunday, according to Iranian state media. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
Iranian officials have said mountainous, forested terrain and dense fog impeded search and rescue operations. Iranian Red Crescent president Pir-Hossein Koulivand said 40 search teams were on the ground in the area despite “difficult weather conditions.”
The search is being carried out by teams on the ground, as “weather conditions have made it impossible to conduct aerial searches” with drones, Koulivand said, according to IRNA.
Raisi was traveling in Iran's East Azerbaijan province, near the city of Jolfa, at the time of the incident. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and the governor of East Azerbaijan province were traveling with the president, along with other officials.
“The esteemed president and company were back on board some helicopters and one of the helicopters was forced to make a forced landing due to bad weather and fog,” Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said in comments broadcast by the state television.
“Several rescue teams are on their way to the region, but due to bad weather and fog, it may take some time for them to reach the helicopter,” he added.
“The region is a bit (steep) and it is difficult to establish contact. We are waiting for rescue teams to arrive at the landing site and give us more information,” he continued.
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A local government official used the word “accident” to describe the incident, but acknowledged to an Iranian newspaper that he had not yet arrived at the scene.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian was also aboard the helicopter that experienced a “hard landing” in Iran. (ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)
Countries including Russia, Iraq and Qatar have made formal statements of concern about Raisi's fate and have offered to assist in search operations.
Saudi Arabia, which is traditionally a rival of Iran, although the two countries have recently made rapprochement, also expressed concern in a statement and said it “stands with Iran in these difficult circumstances.”
Raisi had been in Azerbaijan early Sunday morning to inaugurate a dam with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. The dam is the third that the two nations have built on the Aras River.
Iran's regime has yet to make a formal statement on Raisi's status. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
The visit came despite fragile relations between the two countries, including the 2023 gun attack on the Azerbaijani embassy in Tehran, and Azerbaijan's diplomatic relations with Israel, which Iran's Shiite theocracy considers its main enemy in the region.
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There was no immediate official reaction from Israel. Last month, following an Israeli attack on an Iranian consular building in Damascus that killed two Iranian generals, Tehran launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel. Most of them were shot down and tensions have since apparently eased.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
