Rescue groups are looking out into the evening to attempt to find Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi after his helicopter crashed on his means again from a go to to the nation’s northwest.
There was dense fog within the area, making circumstances troublesome for search groups, state media mentioned, with out giving a direct trigger for the incident on Sunday. Iran’s authorities spokesman, Ali Bahadori Jahromi, mentioned late within the night on X that there have been “no new updates” and that the nation was grappling with a “difficult and complicated situation.”
Discovering the president’s helicopter “could take time” resulting from troublesome climate circumstances, Inside Minister Ahmad Vahidi mentioned on TV. An aerial search was “impossible” Iranian TV mentioned, after at the least 5 hours of the hunt on the bottom.
Raisi, an ultraconservative cleric in his 60s who received Iran’s presidential election in 2021, has been seen as a favourite to ultimately succeed Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who’s the Islamic Republic’s high authority.
The incident comes at a time of turmoil within the Center East over the battle in Gaza between Israel and Iran-backed Hamas — designated a terrorist group by the US and European Union. It has edged Iran and Israel near all-out battle and led to different Tehran-supported teams, together with the Houthis in Yemen and Shiite militias in Iraq, to assault US bases and business ships within the Purple Sea.
Raisi’s air fleet consisted of three helicopters with high-ranking officers together with Overseas Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the semi-official Tasnim information company reported. Amirabdollahian was believed to be on board Raisi’s plane on the time.
The US is carefully following studies of the incident, a State Division spokesperson mentioned with out additional remark.
Iranian tv aired dwell footage of scores of ambulances amid heavy rain and fog. A reporter, stationed close to the rescue groups, talked about the challenges in reaching the crash website, citing impassable roads resulting from mud and the distant nature of the realm. Aerial searches utilizing helicopters and drones have been unattainable as a result of hostile climate circumstances, he mentioned.
State tv broadcast dwell footage from the nation’s holy shrine within the northeastern metropolis of Mashhad, Raisi’s birthplace, displaying pilgrims praying for Raisi. Others believed to be on board Raisi’s helicopter included the governor of East Azerbaijan province and the supreme chief’s consultant within the metropolis of Tabriz, Iranian media mentioned.
Each Raisi and Amirabdollahian oversaw the restoration of Iran’s diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia by means of a Chinese language-brokered deal introduced in March 2023. But it surely was a time when there was additionally a stalemate in negotiations to revive Iran’s nuclear take care of world energy and raise financial sanctions.
Learn extra: Understanding the Harmful Israel-Iran Battle: QuickTake
Earlier Sunday, Raisi met his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev to inaugurate a collectively developed dam on the border between the 2 nations. The incident occurred whereas Raisi was getting back from Iran’s East Azerbaijan province.
Raisi’s ascension to the presidency got here after eight years below the relative average Hassan Rouhani, who was central to the nuclear accord that former President Donald Trump withdrew the US from in 2018.
The US exit from the deal empowered Iran’s hardliners, who have been all the time vital of the settlement. Raisi was sanctioned in 2019 by the Trump administration, which cited his function in a lethal crackdown a decade earlier on protesters alleging vote fraud.
Throughout his presidential election marketing campaign he acquired assist from the best ranges of Iran’s spiritual and navy institution, and put all of Iran’s state establishments and levers of energy within the palms of hardliners.
Raisi’s First Vice President is Mohammad Mokhber, who has represented Iran on many current abroad journeys and who like many senior Iranian officers is topic to US sanctions.
