DEVELOPING: Search underway after helicopter carrying Iran's leader crashes

A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and some other senior officials had a “hard landing” in northwestern East Azerbaijan province on Sunday, according to Iran’s state TV.

Raisi was accompanied by Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, East Azerbaijan Governor Malik Rehmati and Friday prayer leader in the city of Tabriz Al-Hashem at the time of the accident.

State media said at least 20 emergency response teams from the provinces of East Azerbaijan, Ardabil and Zanjan were immediately dispatched to the site and they are currently engaged in rescue operations.

There are no reports yet about the condition of those on board the helicopter, including Raisi. Due to mountainous terrains and dense fog, the search and rescue operation is likely to take several hours.

Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi told state TV that the delegation led by Raisi was returning from a dam inauguration ceremony on the Azerbaijan-Iran border when the incident took place.

He said one of the helicopters in the convoy of the Iranian president had to make a “hard landing” due to inclement weather conditions, adding that multiple rescue teams have been pressed into action.

Turkish drone detects heat source

Turkish Bayraktar Akinci unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) identified a source of heat early Monday suspected to be the wreckage of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and shared its coordinates with Iranian authorities, the Anadolu news agency has reported on Monday.

Separately, search and rescue teams detected the smell of fuel oil at one point of interest concerning the helicopter, the president of the Iranian Red Crescent Society told reporters early Monday.

"We are sending search and rescue teams to the place where they say they smell fuel oil. The place where the smell of fuel is detected is the same as one of the places where the accident is likely to have occurred," Pir Hossein Kolivand was quoted as saying by the Iranian Workers’ News Agency (ILNA).

Rescuers hampered by weather conditions

Rescuers were attempting to reach the site, state TV said earlier, 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” and the region is known to be mountainous as well.

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, formerly led the country’s judiciary. He is viewed as a protégé of Iran’s Supreme Leader 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 country’s history. Raisi is sanctioned by the US 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.