Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi greets media representatives after a press convention in Tehran, August 29, 2023. [AFP]
A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was concerned in an “accident” in dangerous climate on Sunday, state media reported. A search is underway, however there isn’t a phrase but on the president’s situation.
State tv reported that “an accident occurred with the helicopter carrying the president” within the Joffa area of East Azerbaijan’s western province.
The Islamic Republic’s state media reported that search and rescue groups had been heading to a distant mountainous space, including that Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdullahian was additionally on board the aircraft.
“Hard climate situations and dense fog are making it tough for rescue groups to achieve the accident scene,” state tv mentioned in an on-screen information bulletin.
State tv broadcast footage of an Iranian Red Crescent group strolling down a hill by way of thick fog, in addition to reside footage of crowds chanting prayers at Imam Reza’s shrine in Raisi’s hometown of Mashhad.
Sunday’s accident occurred within the mountainous protected forest space of Dismar, close to the city of Varzagan, state information company IRNA mentioned.
Raisi, 63, was within the province on Sunday to work together with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on a dam undertaking on the border between the 2 nations.
His convoy included three helicopters, and two others “reached their vacation spot safely,” Tasnim information company mentioned.
The international minister and native officers had been touring in the identical helicopter as Raisi, IRNA mentioned.
The reformist Sharg Daily additionally reported, “The helicopter carrying the president crashed, whereas the opposite two helicopters landed safely.”
Later, Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi mentioned one of many helicopters had made a “onerous touchdown attributable to dangerous climate” and there had been “difficulties establishing communications” with the plane.
Years of disaster and battle
Raisi has been the Islamic Republic’s president since June 2021, changing average Hassan Rouhani, throughout a interval through which Iran confronted disaster and battle.
He took the helm of a rustic within the grips of a extreme social disaster and an financial system strained by U.S. sanctions towards Tehran over its nuclear program.
In Iran, the loss of life in custody of Iranian Kurdish Mahsa Amini in September 2022 sparked a wave of large-scale protests.
In March 2023, regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia signed a shock deal to revive diplomatic relations.
The struggle in Gaza, which started on October 7, has as soon as once more raised tensions within the area, and in a sequence of escalating retaliations, Iran fired a whole bunch of missiles and rockets straight at Israel in April 2024.
In a speech after the dam’s inauguration on Sunday, Raisi emphasised Iran’s help for the Palestinians, which has been the centerpiece of Iran’s international coverage because the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Raisi mentioned: “We imagine that Palestine is the primary downside of the Islamic world, and we’re satisfied that the peoples of Iran and Azerbaijan will all the time help the folks of Palestine and Gaza and hate the Zionist regime.” mentioned.
Raisi was born in 1960 within the holy metropolis of Mashhad in northeastern Iran and rose to excessive workplace at an early age. At simply 20 years previous, he was appointed prosecutor common of Karaj, subsequent door to Tehran.
His black turban signifies that he’s a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, and he holds the spiritual title of “Khojatore Ram”, actually “Proof of Islam”, one rank under the Ayatollahs within the Shiite clerical hierarchy. .