Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, along with the country’s foreign minister and other officials, have been found dead at the site of a helicopter crash. The discovery came after an hours-long search through a foggy, mountainous region in the northwest of the country, state media reported. Raisi was 63
Iran's State TV gave no immediate cause for the crash in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province.
Among the dead was Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, 60.
Earlier, Iranian state television said “no sign of life” was seen at the crash site of a helicopter that was carrying Raisi and others. The site was across a steep valley and rescuers had yet to reach it, state media reported at the time.
As the sun rises in the region, rescuers saw the helicopter from a distance of some 2km, the head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, Pir Hossein Kolivand, told state media.
He did not elaborate and the officials had been missing at that point by over 12 hours.
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| The wreckage of a helicopter carrying Iran President Ebrahim Raisi, (Source: Iranian Red Crescent Society) |
Earlier this afternoon, rescuers announced that they had located the helicopter that had apparently crashed in the mountainous northwest region of Iran.
The incident occurred amidst heightened tensions as Iran, under the leadership of President Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, conducted an unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel last month. Additionally, Iran has been enriching uranium closer to weapons-grade levels than ever before.
In recent years, Iran has also experienced significant mass protests against its Shiite theocracy, driven by economic grievances and concerns over women's rights. Against this backdrop, the timing of the helicopter crash adds further sensitivity to Tehran's challenges, particularly as the Israel-Hamas conflict escalates tensions across the wider Middle East.
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| In this photo provided by Islamic Republic News Agency, IRNA, the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi takes off before the apparent crash. (Source: Associated Press |
Raisi was travelling in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. State TV said what it called a “hard landing” happened near Jolfa, a city on the border with the nation of Azerbaijan, some 600km northwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran.
Later, state TV put it farther east near the village of Uzi, but details remained contradictory.
Travelling with Raisi were Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and other officials and bodyguards, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
One local government official used the word “crash,” but others referred to either a “hard landing” or an “incident.” Neither IRNA nor state TV offered any information on Raisi’s condition in the hours afterwards.
Early Monday morning (local time), Turkish authorities released what they described as drone footage showing what appeared to be a fire in the wilderness that they “suspected to be the wreckage of the helicopter.”
The coordinates listed in the footage put the fire some 20km south of the Azerbaijan-Iranian border on the side of a steep mountain.
Hard-liners urged the public to pray for him. State TV aired images of hundreds of the faithful, some with their hands outstretched in supplication, praying at Imam Reza Shrine in the city of Mashhad, one of Shiite Islam’s holiest sites, as well as in Qom and other locations across the country. State television’s main channel aired the prayers nonstop.
In Tehran, a group of men kneeling on the side of the street clasped strands of prayer beads and watched a video of Raisi praying, some of them visibly weeping.
“If anything happens to him we’ll be heartbroken,” said one of the men, Mehdi Seyedi.
”May the prayers work and may he return to the arms of the nation safe and sound.”
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| Iranian pilgrims pray for President Ebrahim Raisi at Imam Reza Shrine in the city of Mashhad. (Source: Associated Press |
Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi, in remarks broadcasted on state TV, stated, "The esteemed president and accompanying individuals were returning via helicopters when one of the helicopters was compelled to make a hard landing due to adverse weather conditions and fog."
He further added, "Multiple rescue teams are en route to the location, but due to the inclement weather and dense fog, it may take some time for them to reach the site."
The Iranian state news agency IRNA described the area as a "forest," while it's widely acknowledged to be a mountainous region.
State TV aired footage showing SUVs navigating through wooded terrain, encountering challenging weather conditions such as heavy rain and strong winds. Rescuers were depicted traversing through fog and mist.
According to emergency services spokesman Babak Yektaparast speaking to IRNA, a rescue helicopter attempted to reach the suspected location of Raisi's helicopter but was unable to land due to thick mist.
Later in the evening, Turkey's defense ministry announced that it had deployed an unmanned aerial vehicle and was preparing to dispatch a helicopter equipped with night vision capabilities to assist in the ongoing search and rescue operation.
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| In this photo provided by Moj News Agency, rescue teams' vehicles are seen near the site of the incident of the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Varzaghan in northwestern Iran. (Source: Associated Press) |
Long after the sun set, Iranian government spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi acknowledged that “we are experiencing difficult and complicated conditions” in the search.
“It is the right of the people and the media to be aware of the latest news about the president’s helicopter accident, but considering the coordinates of the incident site and the weather conditions, there is ‘no’ new news whatsoever until now,” he wrote on the social platform X.
“In these moments, patience, prayer and trust in relief groups are the way forward.”
Khamenei himself also urged the public to pray. However, the supreme leader also stressed the business of Iran’s government would continue no matter what.
Under the Iranian constitution, Iran’s vice first president takes over if the president dies with Khamenei’s assent, and a new presidential election would be called within 50 days.
First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber already had begun receiving calls from officials and foreign governments in Raisi’s absence, state media reported.
Raisi, 63, a hard-liner who formerly led the country’s judiciary, is viewed as a protégé of Khamenei and some analysts have suggested he could replace the 85-year-old leader after Khamenei’s death or resignation.
Raisi had been on the border with Azerbaijan early Sunday (Tehran time) to inaugurate a dam with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev. The dam is the third one that the two nations built on the Aras River.
The visit came despite chilly relations between the two nations, including over a gun attack on Azerbaijan’s Embassy in Tehran in 2023, and Azerbaijan’s diplomatic relations with Israel, which Iran’s Shiite theocracy views as its main enemy in the region.
Iran flies a variety of helicopters in the country, but international sanctions make it difficult to obtain parts for them.
Its military air fleet also largely dates back to before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
IRNA published images it described as Raisi taking off in what resembled a Bell helicopter, with a blue-and-white paint scheme previously seen in published photographs.
Who is President Ebrahim Raisi?
Raisi won Iran's 2021 presidential election, a vote that saw the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic's history. Raisi is sanctioned by the US in part over his involvement in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 at the end of the bloody Iran-Iraq war.
Under Raisi, Iran now enriches uranium at nearly weapons-grade levels and hampers international inspections. Iran has armed Russia in its war on Ukraine, as well as launched a massive drone-and-missile attack on Israel amid its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
It also has continued arming proxy groups in the Mideast, like Yemen's Houthi rebels and Lebanon's Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, mass protests in the country have raged for years. The most recent involved the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who had been earlier detained over allegedly not wearing a hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of authorities
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