UPDATE
We can now confirm that all passengers onboard have now been located and Iranian state news is reporting they have been found dead.
Iranian search and rescue teams were scouring a fog-shrouded mountainside after a helicopter carrying President Ebrahim Raisi went missing in an “accident” in the northwestern part of the country.
A chopper carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi crashed on Sunday as it was crossing mountain terrain in heavy fog on the way back, according to Iranian state television. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, is reportedly holding an emergency meeting with the National Security Council.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other officials were also reportedly present in the chopper along with Raisi.
The lives of Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were “at risk following the helicopter crash”, which happened on the way back from a visit to the border with Azerbaijan in Iran’s northwest, Iranian officials were quoted by news agency Reuters.
The Iranian state-run media outlets said Raisi was travelling in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and that the incident happened near Jolfa, a city on the border with the nation of Azerbaijan, some 600 kilometres (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran. IRNA called the area where the incident happened a “forest.”
However, no official confirmation has been received from the Iranian government.