Hopes are fading that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister have survived a helicopter crash in mountainous terrain and icy weather, an Iranian official said on Monday after search teams located the wreckage.
\n\u201cPresident Raisi\u2019s helicopter was completely burned in the crash \u2026 unfortunately, all passengers are feared dead,\u201d the official told Reuters.
\nRescue teams fought blizzards and difficult terrain through the night to reach the wreckage in East Azerbaijan province in the early hours of Monday.
\n\u201cWe can see the wreckage and the situation does not look good,\u201d the head of Iran\u2019s Red Crescent, Pirhossein Kolivand, told state TV.
\nRaisi, 63, was elected president in 2021, and since taking office has ordered a tightening of morality laws, overseen a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests and pushed hard in nuclear talks with world powers.
\nA Turkish drone identified a source of heat suspected to be the helicopter\u2019s wreckage and had shared the coordinates of the possible crash site with Iranian authorities, Anadolu news agency said earlier on X.
\nState news agency IRNA said Raisi was flying in a U.S.-made Bell 212 helicopter.
\nIranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who holds ultimate power with a final say on foreign policy and Iran\u2019s nuclear programme, sought to reassure Iranians, saying there would be no disruption to state affairs.
\nThe chief of staff of Iran\u2019s army ordered all resources of the army and the elite Revolutionary Guards to be put to use in search and rescue operations.
\nEarlier, the national broadcaster had stopped all regular programming to show prayers being held for Raisi across the country.
\nIn the early hours of Monday, it showed a rescue team, wearing bright jackets and head torches, huddled around a GPS device as they searched a pitch-black mountainside on foot in a blizzard.
\n\u201cWe are thoroughly searching every inch of the general area of the crash,\u201d state media quoted a regional army commander as saying. \u201cThe area has very cold, rainy, and foggy weather conditions. The rain is gradually turning into snow.\u201d
\nSeveral countries expressed concern and offered assistance in any rescue.
\nThe White House said U.S. President Joe Biden had been briefed on reports about the crash. China said it was deeply concerned. The European Union offered emergency satellite mapping technology.
\nHARDLINER, POSSIBLE SUCCESSOR TO KHAMENEI
\nThe crash comes at a time of growing dissent within Iran over an array of political, social and economic crises. Iran\u2019s clerical rulers face international pressure over Tehran\u2019s disputed nuclear programme and its deepening military ties with Russia during the war in Ukraine.
\nSince Iran\u2019s ally Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, provoking Israel\u2019s assault on Gaza, conflagrations involving Iran-aligned groups have erupted throughout the Middle East.
\nIn Iran\u2019s dual political system, split between the clerical establishment and the government, it is Raisi\u2019s 85-year-old mentor Khamenei, supreme leader since 1989, who holds decision-making power on all major policies.
\nFor years many have seen Raisi as a strong contender to succeed Khamenei, who has endorsed Raisi\u2019s main policies.
\nRaisi\u2019s victory in a closely managed election in 2021 brought all branches of power under the control of hardliners, after eight years when the presidency had been held by pragmatist Hassan Rouhani and a nuclear deal negotiated with powers including Washington.
\nHowever, Raisi\u2019s standing may have been dented by widespread protests against clerical rule and a failure to turn around Iran\u2019s economy, hamstrung by Western sanctions.
\nRaisi had been at the Azerbaijani border on Sunday to inaugurate the Qiz-Qalasi Dam, a joint project. Azerbaijan\u2019s President Ilham Aliyev, who said he had bid a \u201cfriendly farewell\u201d to Raisi earlier in the day, offered assistance in the rescue.
\n(Reuters)helicopter crash. helicopter crash, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, search teams<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The fact described in the text is that hopes are fading that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister have survived a helicopter crash in mountainous terrain and icy weather, as search teams located the wreckage and all passengers are feared dead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":12428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[652,1943,5286,8575,6138,492,7129,9134,486,1241,5732,8581,5408,2604,2083,26,1600,6965,2404,1392,6144,145,415,298,10334,10522,10540,9046,187,3525,146,10566,10541,299,756,7375,185,2952,69,3504,3331,4593,10330,45,4833,1004,1021,4843,1670,3775,4753,577,623,389,1976,6308,19,331,6238,1705,10567,6386,436,1817,7967,1026,4592,1682,5979,114,9849,3523,6330,17,4560,293,3306,3519,339,2401,457,165,6305,18],"class_list":["post-12427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-army","tag-assault","tag-assistance","tag-authorities","tag-azerbaijan","tag-biden","tag-border","tag-broadcaster","tag-china","tag-cold","tag-conditions","tag-crash","tag-dam","tag-decision-making","tag-disruption","tag-economy","tag-election","tag-establishment","tag-european-union","tag-foreign-minister","tag-foreign-policy","tag-gaza","tag-government","tag-hamas","tag-heat","tag-helicopter","tag-helicopter-crash","tag-house","tag-international","tag-international-pressure","tag-iran","tag-iranian-president","tag-iranian-president-ebrahim-raisi","tag-israel","tag-joe-biden","tag-khamenei","tag-main","tag-media","tag-middle-east","tag-military","tag-news","tag-office","tag-operations","tag-passengers","tag-policy","tag-power","tag-presidency","tag-president","tag-president-joe-biden","tag-pressure","tag-project","tag-protests","tag-rain","tag-rescue","tag-rescue-operations","tag-revolutionary-guards","tag-russia","tag-sanctions","tag-search","tag-search-and-rescue","tag-search-teams","tag-situation","tag-snow","tag-split","tag-state","tag-talks","tag-teams","tag-technology","tag-tehran","tag-top-news","tag-tv","tag-u-s-president","tag-u-s-president-joe-biden","tag-ukraine","tag-victory","tag-war","tag-war-in-ukraine","tag-washington","tag-weather","tag-weather-conditions","tag-white","tag-white-house","tag-who","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n