CRASH PLUNGES IRAN INTO NEW TURMOIL

‘No sign of life’ as crews find chopper carrying president, foreign minister

- JON GAMBRELL

Iranians in central Tehran prayed for President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian on Sunday.

Rescuers on Monday found a helicopter that was carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country's foreign minister and other officials that had apparently crashed in the mountainous northwest reaches of Iran the day before, though "no sign of life" was detected, state media reported.

As the sun rose Monday, rescuers saw the helicopter from a distance of some two kilometres, the head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, Pir Hossein Kolivand, told state media. He did not elaborate and the officials had been missing at that point for more than 12 hours.

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

A helicopter carrying Raisi, seen at centre left, and other officials experienced what state TV called a "hard landing" near the border with Azerbaijan, sparking a huge recovery operation in wooded terrain amid difficult weather conditions.

Iran has also faced years of mass protests against its Shiite theocracy over an ailing economy and women's rights making the moment that much more sensitive for Tehran and the future of the country as the Israel-Hamas war inflames the wider Middle East.

Raisi was travelling in Iran's East Azerbaijan province. 

State TV said what it called a “hard landing” happened near Jolfa, a city on the border with the nation of Azerbaijan, some 600 kilometres northwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran. Later, state TV put it farther east near the village of Uzi, but details remained contradictory.