A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and several other officials went down Sunday in a rugged area in the country’s northwest province near the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Some Iranian media reports characterized the incident as a “hard landing” while others called it a crash.
According to the official Tasnim News Agency, the incident happened as Mr. Raisi was returning from a ceremony to inaugurate a dam at the country’s border with Azerbaijan.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian was among those aboard the helicopter carrying the president. According to news reports, two government helicopters carrying other ministers and officials landed safely.
More than two dozen rescue teams from the military and the Red Crescent Society of Iran deployed to the area to launch search operations. They were armed with drones and search dogs to help locate the missing helicopter.
“The harsh weather conditions and heavy fog have it difficult for the rescue teams,” according to the state-owned Islamic Republic News Agency. “Due to the impassability of the area, as well as adverse weather conditions — especially thick fog in the area — search and rescue operations take time.”
Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said radio contact has been made with at least some of the people who were aboard the helicopter that went down.
“Given that the area is mountainous and it is difficult to establish contacts, we hope that the rescue teams will reach the site of the incident sooner and give us more information,” Mr. Vahidi said, according to Iran’s Mehr News Agency.
Mr. Raisi had been on the border early Sunday to inaugurate a dam with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. The dam is the third one that both countries built on the Aras River.
The visit came amid strained relations between both countries. Iran was accused of supplying fuel to Nagorno-Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan that ethnic Armenians mostly govern. Azerbaijan also maintains a diplomatic relationship with Israel, which Tehran views as its primary enemy in the region.
Iran has an extensive fleet of military aircraft but international sanctions make it difficult to obtain spare parts for them. It continues to fly aircraft obtained before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Mr. Raisi, 63, is a hardliner who once led Iran’s judiciary and is widely viewed as a protege of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He remains under US sanctions for his role in orchestrating the execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 at the end of the Iran-Iraq War.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.