Helicopter carrying Iran’s President crash lands

A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, on Sunday, suffered a “hard landing” in the country.

Raisi was travelling in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, with reports saying the incident happened near Jolfa, a city on the border with the nation of Azerbaijan, some 600 kilometres (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran.

Later, State TV put it farther east near the village of Uzi, but details remained contradictory.

Travelling with Raisi were Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and other officials and bodyguards, according to AP.

One local government official used the word “crash” to describe the incident, but he acknowledged to an Iranian newspaper that he had yet to reach the site himself.

No information on Raisi’s condition has been released. However, hard-liners urged the public to pray for him.

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State TV later aired images of the faithful praying at Imam Reza Shrine in the city of Mashhad, one of Shiite Islam’s holiest sites, as well as in Qom and other locations across the country.

The likely crash comes as Iran under Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel just last month and has enriched uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels.

Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said in a statement: “The esteemed president and company were on their way back aboard some helicopters and one of the helicopters was forced to make a hard landing due to the bad weather and fog.

“Various rescue teams are on their way to the region but because of the poor weather and fogginess it might take time for them to reach the helicopter.”

“The region is a bit (rugged) and it’s difficult to make contact. We are waiting for rescue teams to reach the landing site and give us more information.”

The Star