Iran Says Helicopter Carrying Its President Is Missing After ‘Difficult Landing’
Status of Iran’s Ebrahim Raisi remains unclear as drones and dogs try to locate helicopter in fog and bad weather
By Aresu Eqbali and
Laurence Norman
Updated May 19, 2024 11:50 am ET
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. PHOTO: VAHID SALEMI/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rescue teams haven’t been able to locate a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi that made a “difficult landing” in northwestern Iran, the country’s interior minister said Sunday, without providing any information on his condition.
Drones, dogs and search and rescue teams were being used to try to locate the helicopter as fog and bad weather made the work difficult, the interior minister, Ahmad Vahidi, said on Iranian state TV. Aboard the helicopter was also the foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, state TV said.
In Washington, a National Security Council spokesman said the U.S. is aware of the reports but had no immediate comment on the situation.
Rescue teams were sent to the vicinity of the incident, which occurred in the mountainous Arasbaran forest in the country’s far northwest, near Iran’s border with Azerbaijan, according to the Red Crescent Society.
Pir-Hossein Koulivand, head of the Iran Red Crescent, told state TV that 40 rapid-response teams from various provinces were searching on foot because the area is so mountainous. State TV showed images of the area covered in thick fog.
Even as day turned to evening, rescue teams still hadn’t reached the site of the incident. “The search has become harder given the heavy fog,” Iran’s health minister said on state TV. “We have prepared all facilities and possibilities, including surgeons…so that we can start treatment as soon as it is found.”
The president had been traveling to Tabriz, the largest city in Iran’s northwest, about 100 miles from where the helicopter appeared to have gone down. The incident took place after Raisi had inaugurated the opening of a dam with Azerbaijan’s leader, Ilham Aliyev, on the neighboring countries’ shared border.
The Red Crescent said it hadn’t confirmed the incident to be a crash.
Iranian state TV broadcast images of people praying for the president’s health.
A senior Hamas official released a statement of support for the president, saying: “Our hearts are with the brotherly Iranian people. We ask Almighty God to be kind to the Iranian president, the foreign minister and all those with them.”
For years, Iran has had to rely on old aircraft and equipment because of Western sanctions on the sale of planes and spare parts to the country.
A conservative cleric and for decades a close confidant of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Raisi became Iran’s eighth president in August 2021, leading a significantly harder-line government than his predecessor, Hassan Rouhani. There has been speculation that he could be a contender to become the country’s Supreme Leader when Khamenei, who is 85, dies.
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-ea...s-difficult-landing-d51329d7?mod=hp_lead_pos1
Status of Iran’s Ebrahim Raisi remains unclear as drones and dogs try to locate helicopter in fog and bad weather
By Aresu Eqbali and
Laurence Norman
Updated May 19, 2024 11:50 am ET
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. PHOTO: VAHID SALEMI/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rescue teams haven’t been able to locate a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi that made a “difficult landing” in northwestern Iran, the country’s interior minister said Sunday, without providing any information on his condition.
Drones, dogs and search and rescue teams were being used to try to locate the helicopter as fog and bad weather made the work difficult, the interior minister, Ahmad Vahidi, said on Iranian state TV. Aboard the helicopter was also the foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, state TV said.
In Washington, a National Security Council spokesman said the U.S. is aware of the reports but had no immediate comment on the situation.
Rescue teams were sent to the vicinity of the incident, which occurred in the mountainous Arasbaran forest in the country’s far northwest, near Iran’s border with Azerbaijan, according to the Red Crescent Society.
Pir-Hossein Koulivand, head of the Iran Red Crescent, told state TV that 40 rapid-response teams from various provinces were searching on foot because the area is so mountainous. State TV showed images of the area covered in thick fog.
Even as day turned to evening, rescue teams still hadn’t reached the site of the incident. “The search has become harder given the heavy fog,” Iran’s health minister said on state TV. “We have prepared all facilities and possibilities, including surgeons…so that we can start treatment as soon as it is found.”
The president had been traveling to Tabriz, the largest city in Iran’s northwest, about 100 miles from where the helicopter appeared to have gone down. The incident took place after Raisi had inaugurated the opening of a dam with Azerbaijan’s leader, Ilham Aliyev, on the neighboring countries’ shared border.
The Red Crescent said it hadn’t confirmed the incident to be a crash.
Iranian state TV broadcast images of people praying for the president’s health.
A senior Hamas official released a statement of support for the president, saying: “Our hearts are with the brotherly Iranian people. We ask Almighty God to be kind to the Iranian president, the foreign minister and all those with them.”
For years, Iran has had to rely on old aircraft and equipment because of Western sanctions on the sale of planes and spare parts to the country.
A conservative cleric and for decades a close confidant of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Raisi became Iran’s eighth president in August 2021, leading a significantly harder-line government than his predecessor, Hassan Rouhani. There has been speculation that he could be a contender to become the country’s Supreme Leader when Khamenei, who is 85, dies.
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-ea...s-difficult-landing-d51329d7?mod=hp_lead_pos1
