Helicopter Crash Involving Iran’s President: Latest Updates and Information

 Helicopter Crash Involving Iran’s President: Latest Updates and Information

 

 The helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi took off at the Iranian border with Azerbaijan after President Raisi and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, inaugurated the Qiz Qalasi dam in Iran on Sunday, May 19, 2024 (IRNA via AP).

**Beirut.** The reported crash of a helicopter transporting Iran’s president and foreign minister on Sunday has sent shockwaves throughout the region.

Details remain sparse hours after the incident, and it is still unclear if Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the other officials on board survived.

Here’s what is known so far:

**Who was on board the helicopter and where were they headed?**
According to the state-run IRNA news agency, the helicopter was carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, and other officials and bodyguards. Raisi was returning from a trip to Iran’s border with Azerbaijan, where he had inaugurated a dam with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev earlier that Sunday.

**Where and how did the helicopter crash?**
The helicopter apparently crashed or made an emergency landing in the Dizmar forest between the cities of Varzaqan and Jolfa in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, near the border with Azerbaijan, under unclear circumstances. Initially, Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi stated that the helicopter "was forced to make a hard landing due to bad weather and fog."

**What is the status of the search operations?**
Iranian officials have reported that the mountainous, forested terrain and heavy fog have hindered search-and-rescue operations. Pir-Hossein Koulivand, president of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, said 40 search teams were on the ground despite the "challenging weather conditions." Due to these conditions, aerial searches via drones have been impossible, Koulivand noted, according to IRNA.

**If Raisi died in the crash, how might this impact Iran?**
Raisi is considered a protégé of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a potential successor within the country’s Shiite theocracy. Under the Iranian constitution, if Raisi were to die, the country’s first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, would assume the presidency. Khamenei has assured Iranians that there would be "no disruption to the operations of the country" following the crash.

**What has the international reaction been?**
Countries including Russia, Iraq, and Qatar have issued formal statements expressing concern about Raisi’s fate and have offered assistance in the search operations.

Azerbaijani President Aliyev expressed "deep concern" about the incident and affirmed Azerbaijan's readiness to provide any necessary support. Relations between the two countries have been strained due to Azerbaijan’s diplomatic ties with Israel, Iran’s regional adversary.

Saudi Arabia, typically a rival of Iran although the two countries have recently reconciled, also expressed concern and stated it "stands by Iran in these difficult circumstances."

There was no immediate official response from Israel. Last month, after an Israeli strike on an Iranian consular building in Damascus that killed two Iranian generals, Tehran launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel. Most were shot down, and tensions have since subsided.