Critical hours in the rescue work of the crashed helicopter in which the Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, and his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hossein Amirabdollahian, were traveling. After hours of work to try to reach the coordinates where it is estimated that the device would have crashed due to bad weather, confusion is spreading among the information surrounding the event. While state television claims that teams have found the vehicle, the Red Crescent denies this.
At the moment, the condition of its occupants after the accident – which took place while crossing mountainous terrain in the middle of dense fog on the way back from a visit to the border with Azerbaijan – has not been revealed, although the authorities claim to have made contacts with one of the passengers and one of the crew members of the vehicle that crashed on several occasions.
“Contact has been maintained with one of the helicopter crew and with a member of the flight staff,” the vice president of executive affairs, Mohsen Mansouri, told state television, who did not specify when those communications were maintained.
“This shows that the severity of the accident has not been very high, since two people who were in this helicopter have communicated on several occasions,” added the politician.
The accident, Iranian officials tell the Reuters agency, occurred due to adverse weather conditions and, for the moment, the condition of its occupants is unknown.
Local media indicate that 40 rescue teams have been formed to locate the device. As they point out, the chief of staff of the country’s army, Mohammad Bagheri, has ordered the use of all resources for rescue operations, which are focused on the Aras Baran forests in the Pir Davoud area of ??the province of East Azerbaijan, a mountainous area.
The official said the lives of Raisi and the foreign minister were “at risk following the helicopter crash.” “We still have hope, but the information coming from the crash site is very worrying,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Bad weather is complicating rescue efforts, state news agency IRNA reported. State television suspended all its usual programming to show prayers being held for Raisi across the country and, in one corner of the screen, live coverage of rescue teams searching the mountainous area on foot in the middle of a Dense fog.
For the moment, the US State Department is closely following the reports received about the possible accident of the helicopter in which the president was apparently traveling with his Foreign Minister.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al Sudani ordered several departments and the Iraqi Red Crescent to lend their capabilities to Iran to help search for the helicopter carrying the Iranian president.
The Iraqi government said in a statement that Al Sudani ordered the Interior Ministry, the Iraqi Red Crescent and other competent authorities to “present available capabilities to the Islamic Republic of Iran to help search for the Iranian president’s helicopter, which disappeared.” in northern Iran.
Other countries such as Azerbaijan, Russia, Türkiye and Qatar have joined the offer. In addition, the EU has joined the search through the Copernicus mapping system.
The 63-year-old was elected president on the second attempt in 2021 and, since taking office, had ordered a tightening of moral laws, overseen a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests and pushed hard for nuclear talks with world powers. .
In Iran’s dual political system, divided between the clerical establishment and the government, it is the supreme leader, and not the president, who has the final say on all major policies.
But many saw Raisi as a strong contender to succeed his 85-year-old mentor, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had strongly backed Raisi’s major policies.
Interior Minister Ahmed Vahidi told state television only that one of the helicopters in a group of three had gone down and that authorities were waiting for more details.
Raisi had been on the border with Azerbaijan to inaugurate the Qiz-Qalaisi Dam, a joint project.
