In a tragic incident, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian were declared dead by local media following a helicopter crash on Sunday. The accident occurred in mountainous terrain under icy weather conditions. The rescue team located the wreckage in East Azerbaijan province on Monday, confirming the fatalities.
According to a global news agency, the helicopter, carrying the Iranian President and other high-ranking officials, was found completely burned in a forest on Monday. Rescue teams battled blizzards and challenging terrain throughout the night to reach the site.
Pir Hossein Kolivand, the chief of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, reported that rescuers spotted the helicopter from a distance of about 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) on Monday morning. He stated, “We can see the wreckage and the situation does not look good,” adding that “No signs of life have been detected among the helicopter’s passengers.”
The incident occurred while returning from a visit to Iran’s East Azerbaijan province after inaugurating a dam in the region. This dam is the third built by Iran and its partner nation on the Aras River.
The helicopter involved in the crash was a Bell 212, widely used globally by both government and private operators. The specific model that crashed was configured for transporting government passengers. The Bell 212’s latest version, the Subaru Bell 412, is marketed for various uses, including police, medical transport, troop transport, energy industry, and firefighting.
The most recent
fatal crash involving a Bell 212 occurred in September 2023, when a privately operated aircraft crashed off the coast of the UAE.
About Ebrahim Raisi
Ebrahim Raisi, 63, a hard-liner who previously led Iran’s judiciary, was considered a protégé of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Some analysts suggested he might succeed the 85-year-old Khamenei. Raisi won the 2021 presidential election in Iran, which saw the lowest voter turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history. He is sanctioned by the US, partly due to his involvement in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988, at the end of the Iran-Iraq war.
Under Raisi’s leadership, Iran has enriched uranium to nearly weapons-grade levels and obstructed international inspections. The country has supplied arms to Russia for its war in Ukraine and launched a significant drone and missile attack on Israel amid its conflict with Hamas in Gaza. Additionally, Iran continues to support proxy groups in the Middle East, such as Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
