The fate of Iran President Ebrahim Raisi is unknown after the helicopter he was flying in made a “hard landing” after it got in difficulties due to bad weather on Sunday, state media reports.
Raisi was heading to the north-eastern city of Tabriz after returning from an Iran-Azerbaijan border area when the incident occurred.
Raisi had been visiting the Iran-Azerbaijan border, where he opened the Qiz Qalasi and Khodaafarin dams with his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev.
He was travelling with the Iranian foreign minister in a convoy of three helicopters over the area – two of the helicopters are reported to have landed safely.
Iran’s interior minister said rescuers were still trying to reach the site, but their efforts are being hampered by poor weather conditions. Ahmad Alirezabeigi, an Iranian MP for the city of Tabriz, says that emergency rescue workers have yet to find the location of the helicopter.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the nation “should pray” for Raisi’s health.
“If the people of Iran do not worry, there will be no disruption in the work of the country,” he added.
Footage also emerged on state television showing worshippers praying for the president’s health in the city of Mashhad.
Raisi, 63, was elected president on his second attempt in 2021. He is seen as a hardline cleric and regarded as a potential successor one day to Ayatollah Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader since 1989.