On Monday, May 20th, according to official Iranian media reports, a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister crashed, with the wreckage now located and no signs of life at the scene.
Rescue teams braved a snowstorm to search for the crashed helicopter in the rugged terrain, arriving at the location of the wreckage in East Azerbaijan Province in the early hours of Monday.
Iran’s national news agency IRIB reported that Pir-Hossein Kolivand, head of the Iranian Red Crescent, confirmed that there were no signs of life among the passengers on the helicopter that crashed in East Azerbaijan Province.
“We can see the wreckage, the situation looks grim,” Kolivand said. “At the crash site, no signs of life were found among the helicopter passengers.”
It is believed that President Raisi has died, with earlier reports from Iranian agencies stating that “no survivors” were found at the scene of the helicopter crash, which also carried Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and seven others.
Reports from Iran’s national communication agency IRINN and the semi-official news agency Mehr News also stated that there were “no survivors” at the crash site of the helicopter carrying President Raisi.
An Iranian official informed Reuters after the search team found the helicopter wreckage, “President Raisi’s helicopter was completely burnt in the crash… Unfortunately, all passengers may have died.”
Anadolu Agency reported on social media that earlier on Monday, a Turkish drone detected a heat source believed to be the wreckage of the helicopter and shared possible crash site coordinates with Iranian authorities.
The Iranian Army Chief of Staff has ordered the use of all resources from the military and the elite Revolutionary Guards for rescue operations.
Raisi, 63, was elected as the President of Iran in 2021 and has since tightened moral laws, overseen bloody crackdowns on anti-government protests, and pushed for negotiations with major world powers on the nuclear issue.
According to human rights observers, he has been involved in severe suppression of dissenting voices during a period of time.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei holds ultimate authority over foreign policy and the Iranian nuclear program. If approved by Khamenei, the successor to the next president will be First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber.
Unlike his predecessor, the moderate former President Hassan Rouhani, Raisi has formed a close alliance with Khamenei. Many Iranians believe that Raisi is being groomed to succeed the ailing 85-year-old Khamenei.
Earlier, Iran’s national broadcasting company suspended all regular programming.
The White House stated that President Biden has been briefed on the incident of the Iranian President’s helicopter crash. Beijing expressed deep concern over the incident. The EU offered emergency satellite mapping assistance for the search efforts.