Iranian president experiences ‘hard landing’ in helicopter: Iranian media

A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi experienced a “hard landing” on Sunday, according to Iranian state media.

Iranian media, according to multiple reports, said rescue teams were dispatched to the site, though there have been multiple conflicting reports regarding the incident.

Raisi was traveling in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province near the city of Jolfa at the time of the incident. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and the governor of the East Azerbaijan province were traveling with the president, along with other officials.

“The esteemed president and company were on their way back aboard some helicopters and one of the helicopters was forced to make a hard landing due to the bad weather and fog,” Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said in comments aired on state TV. 

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“Various rescue teams are on their way to the region but because of the poor weather and fogginess it might take time for them to reach the helicopter,” he added.

“The region is a bit (rugged) and it’s difficult to make contact. We are waiting for rescue teams to reach the landing site and give us more information,” he continued.

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One local government official used the word “crash” to describe the incident, but he acknowledged to an Iranian newspaper that he had yet to reach the site himself.

Raisi had been in Azerbaijan early Sunday 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 fragile relations between the two countries, 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.

This is a developing story. Check back soon for updates.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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