Iranian President's Helicopter Experiences "Hard Landing

Iranian state media reported that a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi experienced a "hard landing" on Sunday. Rescue teams were dispatched to the site, and contact has been made with one passenger and one crew member.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi escaped unharmed after his helicopter made a "hard landing" in northwestern Iran on Sunday, according to Iranian state media.

Initial reports described the incident as a crash, but officials later clarified that it was a hard landing due to bad weather and fog.

Rescue teams were dispatched to the site, and contact has been made with one passenger and one crew member. The helicopter was carrying Raisi and other officials, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and the governor of the East Azerbaijan province.

Raisi was traveling in Iran's East Azerbaijan province near the city of Jolfa at the time of the incident. He had been in Azerbaijan earlier on Sunday to inaugurate a dam with Azerbaijan's President, Ilham Aliyev.

Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said in comments aired on state TV that "the esteemed president and company were on their way back aboard some helicopters and one of the helicopters was forced to make a hard landing due to the bad weather and fog."

"Various rescue teams are on their way to the region but because of the poor weather and fogginess it might take time for them to reach the helicopter," he added.

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.

The Iranian regime has yet to make a formal statement regarding Raisi's status.

Raisi's visit to Azerbaijan came despite fragile relations between the two countries, 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.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.