IRANIAN PRESIDENT RAISI DIES IN A HELICOPTER CRASH.

According to Iranian officials, rescuers are looking for a chopper that crashed on Sunday while transporting Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in northern Iran. They are doing this in the dark. The status of Hossein Amir Abdollahian, the Iranian Foreign Minister who was also on board, and Raisi are still unknown since the temperature in the mountainous terrain drops over the night.

According to official media, a large-scale search operation involving military drones and numerous rescue teams was initiated after the aircraft went down in the early afternoon in the East Azerbaijan province of Iran. 

A Turkish drone has found a heat source, and officials have reported that they were able to communicate with a few of the occupants of the helicopter. However, because of the reported intense cold and fog, rescue workers have been unable to reach the crash scene despite searching for hours.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' regional commander declared late on Sunday night that they had located the crash site precisely thanks to signals from the helicopter and a crew member's cell phone, according to IRNA.

"Military personnel are en route and anticipate receiving positive updates," the commander allegedly stated.

A decade-long shadow conflict between Israel and Iran has come to light, and the incident occurred seven months into Israel's battle against Hamas in Gaza, which has escalated tensions throughout the Middle East. The incident also occurs at a crucial moment for Tehran on the domestic front. Iran conducted its first-ever direct attack on Israel last month, using drones and missiles, in retaliation for what seemed to be a fatal Israeli bombardment on Iran's consulate in Damascus.

Recent youth-led protests against clerical rule and depressing economic conditions have presented major problems for Iran's hardline leadership. Ever since Mahsa Amini's murder in 2022 while in the care of Iran's infamous morality police, the country has seen widespread protests, prompting the Iranian government to begin a general crackdown on dissent.

Search and rescue crews are shown in a frame from a video that Tasnim News published, continuing their search in East Azerbaijan, Iran. 

Iranians have been invited to offer prayers for the president and his entourage via Raisi's official Instagram account and state media.

In a video statement, Iran's top leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, echoed the plea, stating, "Everyone should pray for the health of this group of servants." Iran's people should not fear. Nothing will stop the nation's work from getting done.

Bad weather makes the helicopter search more difficult.

Raisi and Amir Abdollahian were returning from a ceremony marking the opening of a dam on Iran's border with Azerbaijan when the tragedy happened, according to IRNA. According to the IRGC-run media site Sepah, there were seven additional individuals in the helicopter, including the crew, the regional governor, a local imam, and security personnel.

Officials reported that the other two helicopters in the dignitary convoy made it safely to their destinations.

Speaking with two passengers on the downed helicopter, Iranian Vice President for Executive Affairs Mohsen Mansouri informed Iranian semi-official FARS news that the crash site has been determined to be within a 2-kilometer radius and that authorities there think the accident to have been "not severe."

"There were three helicopters on this route, but the President's aircraft lost contact with the other two. After starting their search, they got in touch with the aircraft crew and one of the passengers in the helicopter, confirming that the event was not serious. The rescue teams from the Army, IRGC, FRAJA, and Red Crescent have arrived and have divided up the work," he stated.

Screengrab from a video of Raisi riding a helicopter in Iran on May 19, courtesy of IRIB via Tasnim News. 

via Tasnim News via IRIB

IRNA stated that villagers in the northern Varzeqan region said they heard noises from the area, leading them to suspect that the crash site is probably in the Dizmar Forest area between the towns of Ozi and Pir Davood.

Rescue operations in the remote area are being hampered by bad weather and poor visibility. Rescuers are finding it challenging to locate the crash site due to heavy fog, according to Iran's Minister of Health, Bahram Eynollahi. Treatment facilities have been established by us. On state TV on Sunday, Eynollahi stated, "We have arrived in the area and all rescue forces are busy searching." "Every medical resource, including emergency care, surgery, and ambulances, has been deployed.”

Officials from the Iranian military claimed that the weather had already prevented the area's helicopter deployment from succeeding.

"To conduct relief operations, the helicopters from the 6th Combat Base of Tabriz Air Force arrived in the Varzeqan area,” stated the Commander of Iran's 6th Air Force Base. "These helicopters were dispatched to the president's convoy's helicopter accident scene in the early hours of the morning, along with the rescue crew. Regrettably, adverse weather circumstances caused the operation to fail.

On May 19, 2024, close to the Iran-Azerbaijan border, a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi takes off. 

West Asia News Agency/Reuters/Islamic Republic News Agency/Ali Hamed Haghdoust

Iran has received aid from Iraq and Azerbaijan in the ongoing search and rescue efforts. Turkey announced that it will send a night-vision search and rescue chopper along with 32 mountaineer search and rescue specialists in response to demands from Iranian authorities. The European Union announced that it was turning on its satellite mapping service.

According to IRNA, Russia has also promised to deploy two aircraft with fifty experienced mountain rescuers to assist in reaching the disaster site on Monday.

The White House reports that US President Joe Biden has received a briefing on the incident.