• Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian on board the helicopter that suffered a “hard landing” in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, says Iranian state media.
• Adverse weather conditions, including heavy fog, are hampering rescue efforts and the helicopter is still missing.
Bell 212: The missing helicopter carrying Iran’s president
Images and videos have confirmed that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his companions were riding a US-manufactured Bell 212 helicopter.
The two-blade aircraft is a medium-sized helicopter that has a 15-seat capacity, with one pilot and fourteen passengers.
It is unclear how many people are on Raisi’s helicopter, including flight crew and potential security personnel.
Russia ready to help: Foreign ministry
“Russia is ready to extend all necessary help in the search for the missing helicopter and the investigation of the reasons for the incident,” RIA quoted a foreign ministry spokesperson as saying.
European Commission activates satellite mapping to assist with search
The European Commission is activating satellite mapping service to aid search efforts, following a request for assistance from Iran, the European commissioner for crisis management said.
The European Commission’s Copernicus Emergency Management Service provides mapping products based on satellite imagery.
Crisis management commissioner Janez Lenarcic said on X that the service was activating its “rapid response mapping service in view of the helicopter accident”.
Unfavourable weather conditions expected to persist
A local weather official says the area where the president’s helicopter went down is expected to keep seeing rain and dense fog through the night.
“In the area of the village of Uzi a combination of rain and winds will be seen, and the wind is blowing at around 10 kilometres per hour,” Habib Abdoli, the head of East Azerbaijan’s weather forecast authority, was quoted as saying by state media.
Red Crescent denies reports helicopter found
An official with the Iranian Red Crescent who is in the area where search operations are ongoing says “local media” were behind unconfirmed reports that the helicopter had been found.
A state television reporter in the area also quoted Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian as saying there have been no updates.
But the reporter said search and rescue teams are believed to be within two kilometres of an area where there is a possibility of the helicopter being found.
US aware of crash but no further comment
My sources at the US State Department have said they are aware of reports of the helicopter going down somewhere between Tabriz and Tehran, the Iranian capital.
But beyond that the State Department doesn’t have any comment on the situation. It’s important to remember that since 1979, the United States and Iran have not enjoyed diplomatic relations.
If there are any engagements between the two governments it’s through third parties.
And certainly the US would not be offering any assistance to help in the search for the helicopter carrying the Iranian president, as would be the case of an allied helicopter going down.
Crashed helicopter found by search teams: State television
That’s according to the Reuters news agency, who quoted state television.
There are no details as to the conditions of President Raisi and the other officials on board.
Saudi Arabia, Turkey ready to assist with Raisi helicopter crash
Riyadh has expressed its support for Iran and said it was ready to provide any help required.
The Saudi foreign ministry also said the kingdom was following reports about the crash with “great concern”, according to the Saudi state news agency.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s foreign ministry says it is also ready to support the search and rescue operation.
• Iran’s Fars News Agency calls on Iranians to pray for President Raisi. Approximate location of crash site [Al Jazeera]
Search team lead remains hopeful as contact was made with helicopter
One of the officials on Raisi’s helicopter and a member of the flight crew made contact after the helicopter suffered the incident, according to Mohsen Mansouri, the deputy to the president for executive affairs.
“This was one of the hopeful points in this. This shows that the severity of the incident was not very high because two of the people who were on the flight contacted our people on several instances,” the official, who is leading the search at the site, told state television.
The Red Crescent said 65 teams are now working in the area, and officials believe they are close to finding the helicopter.
No official word from the U
There has been nothing yet from Downing Street [prime minister’s office] or from the Foreign Commonwealth Development Office, the main foreign ministry in the UK.
We have asked both of those departments for comments.
So far, nothing official has come back. I think it’s pretty safe to assume though that like governments around the world, especially Western governments, their intelligence agencies and diplomats will be working frantically to try to discover everything they can about this incident and potentially look into next steps.
President Raisi’s helicopter crashes in Iran: What we know so far
Information is still slowly emerging on the incident, as rescue teams continue the search for the helicopter.
India’s Modi says ‘deeply concerned’ about Raisi crash
Armenia says ready to help as ‘friendly neighbour’
The Armenian foreign ministry says in a short statement that it is shocked by the news from Iran and is praying for the Iranian president and others.
“As rescue operations continue, Armenia, as a close and friendly neighbour of Iran, is ready to provide all necessary support.”
Air searches halted amid deteriorating weather
Babak Yektaparast, the spokesperson for the emergency services organisation, says aerial searches became untenable shortly after darkness fell.
“Unfortunately, continuing aerial operations was no longer possible due to intense fog across the region,” he said, adding that more ambulances were dispatched.
But the official stressed that air ambulances are standing prepared in Tabriz and Tehran.
Iran can ‘absorb’ shock if Raisi unable to carry out presidential duties
In the hypothetical case where Iran’s President Ibrahim Raisi was incapacitated due to the crash, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst says the country’s political system could absorb such a “shock”.
“Clearly, this is a grave incident, and having the president and the foreign minister together in the same helicopter is not exactly the best of signs,” he said.
“But be that as it may, Iran, since its Islamic revolution in 1979 … has proved to be more than capable of taking all sorts of shots [against it], especially when it comes to political leaders.”
Moreover, Bishara said it was important to underline that in Iran “it was not a typical sort of totalitarian system or a dictatorship where one man goes, the entire system collapses”.
“There is a really strong elite that is governing in Iran, but there’s also a strong system in Iran that’s developing and evolving over the past four decades in a way where there are checks and balances,” he noted.
Khamenei prays for safety, vows ‘no disruptions’ in governance
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed concern about the missing helicopter in a meeting with families of IRGC personnel.
“We hope that God returns the honourable president and his companions to the arms of the nation.”
“All must pray for the health of this group of civil servants. The Iranian nation must not be concerned or worried, there will be no disruption in the work of the country.”
Here’s what we know so far:
o Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were on board the helicopter that suffered a “hard landing” in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province.
o East Azerbaijan Governor Malek Rahmati and Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, representative of the Iranian supreme leader to East Azerbaijan were also on board the missing helicopter.
o Iranian state TV reports the crash was due to adverse weather conditions.
o The Iranian Red Crescent says they have deployed 40 separate teams to the region, and rescue teams are getting close to the crash site.
o The Iraqi government has instructed the country’s Interior Ministry, the Red Crescent and other relevant bodies to help in the search.
Tehran prosecutor issues ‘warnings’ for publishing content on incident
The office of the Tehran prosecutor says in a short statement that “some media people” are generating false news about the missing helicopter online.
“The Tehran Prosecutor’s Office has entered this issue in the past few hours and has issued warnings to a number of people who had disturbed the public’s ease of mind,” it says.
Pakistani PM says ‘waiting with great anxiety for good news’
Contradictory reports on national security council convening
Some state-linked media in Iran earlier reported that the country’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) had convened in the presence of the supreme leader.
But within minutes, unnamed sources were quoted by other state-linked media as saying no such meeting had taken place and that the “rumours” circulating were incorrect.
‘Uncertainty’ in Iran spreading
Everyone in Iran is anxiously waiting to hear about what has happened to Raisi and others in the crash, analyst Abas Aslani says.
“Nobody knows what exactly has happened and how the president and other local officials are doing, because the situation is quite complicated,” he told Al Jazeera.
“As time goes on, hopes are decreasing because the conditions are getting much worse and it’s getting darker,” Aslani, a senior research fellow at the Center for Middle East Strategic Studies, noted.
“What is being felt here in Tehran [Iran’s capital] is mostly that feeling of uncertainty.”
People follow the news of a crash of a helicopter carrying Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, on a TV in a shop in Tehran, Iran, May 19, 2024 [Majid Asgaripour/WANA via Reuters]
Azeri president ‘profoundly troubled’ with news of helicopter crash
Ilham Aliyev had met Raisi earlier on Sunday, and said he had bid a “friendly farewell” to the Iranian president.
“As a neighbour, friend and brotherly country, Azerbaijan stands ready to offer any assistance needed,” Aliyev added.
Rescue workers travelling to site by foot
An Iranian state television reporter says that as it gets darker and colder, the crews approaching the site are avoiding travel by car, due to the roads in the area not being paved, and rain making the ground muddy.
Aviation in Iran has a poor record, in part due to sanctions
Iran’s aviation industry has had a horrendous record and that’s in part due to the fact that they can’t get the equipment they need to service their planes.
There have been sanctions in some form against Iran since the revolution in 1979.
Nearly 2,000 Iranians have lost their lives in plane crashes since 1979 and accidents involving Iranian airlines over that 44-year period have resulted in 1,755 casualties.
It shows that aviation in Iran is not particularly safe and part of that is the fact that they cannot get the parts, the aircraft and the equipment that other countries would just buy; they can’t do it, they’re not allowed to.
State TV: Injury or death of helicopter passengers can’t be confirmed
Iranian state television added that the crash was due to adverse weather conditions.
Iraq offers to help Iranian rescue operation
The Iraqi government has instructed the country’s Interior Ministry, the Red Crescent and other relevant bodies to offer help to its neighbour Iran and assist in the search for President Raisi’s missing helicopter.
Rescue teams are expected to reach the helicopter shortly, according to Hamid Monjem, the head of the Red Crescent Society in the East Azerbaijan province of Iran.
“Armed forces also came to the rescue and there are three drone units in the area, but they cannot operate due to weather conditions,” he reported.
Iranian armed forces ordered to mobilise
Mohammad Bagheri, the chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, has issued an order for all the equipment and capacity of the army, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and law enforcement forces to be used to find the helicopter.
“The armed forces, the army, the IRGC and police command were all present in the area from the initial hours,” he was quoted as saying by the Tasnim News Agency.
Vice president headed to Tabriz, near site of incident
Government spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi said Mohammad Mokhber had travelled to Tabriz along with other members of the government.
Jahromi added that a government cabinet meeting has been held, with the latest reports on the missing helicopter presented.
US comments on reports of accident
A spokesperson for the US State Department says the United States is watching reports of a possible hard landing of a helicopter carrying the Iranian president and foreign minister.
The White House added that President Joe Biden has been briefed on the incident.
Iran and the US have had tense relations for years, particularly following the US’s unilateral withdrawal from a nuclear deal with Tehran in 2018.
The US has also backed Israel as the latter battles Iran-backed groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, and when Israel and Iran directly exchanged attacks last month.
President Raisi has met his Azeri counterpart earlier in the day
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi (L) during a meeting with his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev ahead of the inauguration ceremony of Qiz Qalasi, the third dam jointly built by Iran and Azerbaijan on the Aras River
[Handout/Office of the President of Iran via AFP][Handout/Office of the President of Iran via AFP][Handout/Office of the President of Iran via AFP]
In case of sudden death, vice president takes over
In case of a sudden death, the Iranian constitution says the first vice president – who is now Mohammad Mokhber – would take the job of president, with the approval of the supreme leader.
According to the Iranian political hierarchy, the head of the state is Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the president is considered the head of the government, the second-in-command.
When the second-in-command is dead, then the first vice president is going to be in charge and in 50 days the country needs to go to an election to elect a new president.
Raisi seen as potential future Supreme Leader
The conservative politician is a “heavyweight” in Iranian politics, according to Mahjoob Zweiri, a professor at Qatar University.
Zweiri added that Raisi is thought of as a potential successor to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Helicopter went missing near Sungun copper mine in East Azerbaijan province40 search teams deployed to search for missing helicopter
Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem reports that eight ambulances are also involved, as well as drones.
However, according to Foad Izadi, a professor of world studies at the University of Tehran, the teams have been unable to contact those on the helicopter.
“That could be because the accident is very bad, or it could be because the area is not covered by the network. We have to wait and see,” Izadi said.
Raisi was in region after inaugurating dam with Azerbaijani president
Iranian political analyst Mohammad Marandi pointed out that Raisi had been in the border region after meeting Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on Sunday to inaugurate a dam.
“The president was also planning to visit a couple of provinces in the north; he does travel a lot in the country,” Marandi told Al Jazeera. “We have 30 provinces and every year he’s promised to travel to each province at least once, so he’s constantly on the move.”
“It does seem that there was very bad weather; it is very foggy. The footage from the rescue team does show that it’s very difficult to see there. It could be that the helicopter pilot didn’t want to risk it, and he swiftly brought down the helicopter; it could be something else.”
Prayers in Mashhad for President Raisi
People in the Iranian city of Mashhad have gathered to pray for President Raisi as the country waits to see whether he and the ministers travelling with him will be found.
Who was on board the missing helicopter?
o Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi
o Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian
o East Azerbaijan Governor Malek Rahmati
o Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, representative of the Iranian supreme leader to East Azerbaijan
Foggy weather conditions making search operations difficult
Poor weather conditions, including heavy rain and fog have made it hard for authorities to locate the helicopter.
The Iranian state news agency IRNA called the mountainous area a “forest” and state television has aired footage of SUVs travelling through a wooded area.
A rescue helicopter has been unable to reach the area where Raisi’s helicopter was thought to be due to heavy mist, emergency services spokesman Babak Yektaparast told IRNA.
Images of the search teams arriving to the area have been posted on X by Iranian state media.
