Breaking: Helicopter carrying Iran’s President Raisi suffers a ‘hard landing’

A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi suffered a “hard landing” on Sunday, Iranian state media reported, without immediately elaborating. Raisi was travelling in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. State TV said the incident happened near Jolfa, a city on the border with with the nation of Azerbaijan, some 600 kilometres (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran.

Travelling with Raisi were Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and other officials, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. 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.

Neither IRNA nor state TV offered any information on Raisi’s condition.

Rescuers were attempting to reach the site, state TV said, but had been hampered by poor weather conditions. There had been heavy rain and fog reported with some wind. IRNA called the area a “forest.” 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 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.

Raisi, 63, is a hard-liner who formerly led the country’s judiciary. He is viewed as a protégé of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and some analysts have suggested he could replace the 85-year-old leader after his death or resignation from the role.

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.

 

[Kira]

Israeli hand is possible.

 

[Anant]

Israeli hand is possible.

Could be Israeli, could be American, or could even be Azerbaijani. Or, perhaps, it could simply be mechanical problems.

Let's see how the situation develops. A lot will depend on whether the President and FM have survived, which is looking unlikely, going by the news.

 

[Bharat007]

Silly for a sitting Prez to fly in a single engine, 2 bladed main rotor Helicopter that too in mountainous region.

 

[Kira]

Could be Israeli, could be American, or could even be Azerbaijani. Or, perhaps, it could simply be mechanical problems.

Let's see how the situation develops. A lot will depend on whether the President and FM have survived, which is looking unlikely, going by the news.

This may give Iran a big enough reason to escalate it's conflict with Israel and potentially even the US,which won't be any good for anyone.
Hopefully,if both leaders survive or if the cause is undoubtedly determined to be a mechanical failure,then a potentially deadly escalation can be avoided or otherwise we all are in a death spiral 💀

 

[Anant]

This may give Iran a big enough reason to escalate it's conflict with Israel and potentially even the US,which won't be any good for anyone.
Hopefully,if both leaders survive or if the cause is undoubtedly determined to be a mechanical failure,then a potentially deadly escalation can be avoided or otherwise we all are in a death spiral 💀

Well, as confirmed now, no one on board the helicopter survived. Let's see how this goes.

 

[Bharat007]

This may give Iran a big enough reason to escalate it's conflict with Israel and potentially even the US,which won't be any good for anyone.
Hopefully,if both leaders survive or if the cause is undoubtedly determined to be a mechanical failure,then a potentially deadly escalation can be avoided or otherwise we all are in a death spiral 💀

It is too early to speculate. Let's wait for investigation result instead of making wild assumptions.

 

[Shankys]

The helicopter that crashed was a Bell UH-1N a twin engined version of the Bell UH-1 Huey family.

 

[Akshat]

Silly for a sitting Prez to fly in a single engine, 2 bladed main rotor Helicopter that too in mountainous region.

It was a twin engine helicopter

 

[Anant]

The helicopter that crashed was a Bell UH-1N a twin engined version of the Bell UH-1 Huey family.

Close, but not quite. The helicopter that crashed was a Bell 212. The type was developed from the Bell 205, and it is the military version of the 212 that is the UH-1N. The helicopter that crashed seems to have been a civilian variant.

 

[sunilanalysis]

Even Indian state CMs fly in a better helis than these...
He is dead, and crash located by sunni turkish country akinci drones, which shia country own drones failed...

Now coming to India... YSR crash, Su30 crash in arunachal neighter DRDO nor ISRO could locates the crash sites, manually found 🙂

Remember turkey also imports thermal imaging sensors not just India...
Indian standard of a product Vs turkish.
Mere number ayegaa ...

 

[Deepak Hegde]

Israeli hand is possible.

Absolutely no indications of this. Of course there will be whispers of conspiracy theory like this one. Most likely, the Bell-212, which was hampered due to sanctions, was totally antiquated and faced altitude restrictions. It is even being asked why it was allowed to fly in adverse weather. (reminds one of the chopper crash of Bipin Rawat). Israel has never indulged in any political assassinations. The ones to their credit are only high value military targets. If they did indulge in such political assassination, it would be an open act of war and Iran would respond with a full scale war, which Israel would not risk at this point of time, as they are already fighting with one hand tied behind their back.