Helicopter carrying Iran president Raisi and top diplomat involved in a crash; State TV

A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi involved in a crash according to state television as officials said search operations were underway.

Iranian state media said search operations were underway but were being impeded by poor weather conditions.

The incident occurred on Sunday near Jolfa in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province.

The semi-official Fars news agency urged Iranians to pray for Raisi and state TV carried prayers for his safety.

Raisi was returning from a visit to neighbouring Azerbaijan, where he had traveled to inaugurate a dam alongside the country’s President Ilham Aliyev.

State-linked media said three helicopters were in the Iranian president’s convoy, and the two others made it back safely.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, East Azerbaijan Governor Malek Rahmati, and Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, the representative of the Iranian supreme leader to the province, were in the same helicopter as Raisi, state media reported.

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Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian and Housing and Transportation Minister Mehrdad Bazrpash were in the other helicopters that made it back safely.

People who were with the president inside the helicopter managed to make an emergency call, according to the semiofficial Tasnim News Agency.

Tasnim reported that the call increased hopes that the incident can be concluded: “without fatalities”.

It remains unclear exactly what caused the crash or whether any of the passengers in the helicopter have been hurt.

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