Helicopter carrying Iran’s president suffers a ‘hard landing,’ state TV says without further details

Helicopter carrying Iran’s president suffers a ‘hard landing,’ state TV says without further details


Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi looks on during a press conference concluding his appearance at the United Nations General Assembly, in New York City, U.S., September 20, 2023. 

Shannon Stapleton | Reuters

A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi suffered a “hard landing” on Sunday, Iranian state media reported, without immediately elaborating.

Raisi was traveling in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. State TV said the incident happened near Jolfa, a city on the border with with the nation of Azerbaijan, some 600 kilometers (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran.

Traveling with Raisi were Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and other officials, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. 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.

Neither IRNA nor state TV offered any information on Raisi’s condition.

Rescuers were attempting to reach the site, state TV said, but had been hampered by poor weather conditions. There had been heavy rain and fog reported with some wind. IRNA called the area a “forest.”

Raisi had been in Azerbaijan early Sunday to inaugurate a dam with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev. The dam is the third one that the two nations built on the Aras River. The visit came despite chilly relations between the two nations, including over a gun attack on Azerbaijan’s Embassy in Tehran in 2023, and Azerbaijan’s diplomatic relations with Israel, which Iran’s Shiite theocracy views as its main enemy in the region.

Iran flies a variety of helicopters in the country, but international sanctions make it difficult to obtain parts for them. Its military air fleet also largely dates back to before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Raisi, 63, is a hard-liner who formerly led the country’s judiciary. He is viewed as a protégé of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and some analysts have suggested he could replace the 85-year-old leader after his death or resignation from the role.

Raisi won Iran’s 2021 presidential election, a vote that saw the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history. Raisi is sanctioned by the U.S. in part over his involvement in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 at the end of the bloody Iran-Iraq war.

Under Raisi, Iran now enriches uranium at nearly weapons-grade levels and hampers international inspections. Iran has armed Russia in its war on Ukraine, as well as launched a massive drone-and-missile attack on Israel amid its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It also has continued arming proxy groups in the Mideast, like Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.



Source

Asia markets jump as investors assess Japan inflation data; Singapore GDP growth tops estimates
World

Asia markets jump as investors assess Japan inflation data; Singapore GDP growth tops estimates

The Tokyo Tower, left, and commercial and residential buildings in Minato district of Tokyo, Japan, on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg via Getty Images Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images Asia-Pacific markets rose Friday, tracking a rally on Wall Street that saw the S&P log gains for a fourth straight day. Investors in […]

Read More
The founder of the biggest gold ETF is still bullish 20 years later
World

The founder of the biggest gold ETF is still bullish 20 years later

The founder of the first gold-tracking ETF is still bullish on the commodity two decades later. “Things are looking good for the rest of this year and for next year,” George Milling-Stanley told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week. The State Street chief gold strategist highlighted demand from both central banks and individual investors in emerging […]

Read More
In forgotten parts of Singapore’s iconic Orchard Road shopping street, a new era is taking shape
World

In forgotten parts of Singapore’s iconic Orchard Road shopping street, a new era is taking shape

The Far East Shopping Center on Orchard Road in Singapore, on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images The Far East Shopping Center along Singapore’s Orchard Road has seen better days. Despite being five minutes’ walk from the Orchard MRT station, one of Singapore’s busiest subway stations, the 42-year-old mall suffers from very […]

Read More