Sixteen search and rescue teams have been dispatched to the suspected site of a helicopter crash, which may have carried Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian. They flew out from Julfa on the border with Azerbaijan.
Iran's Interior Ministry confirmed that "one of the delegation's helicopters made a hard landing" and reported a loss of communication with the aircraft.
Adverse weather conditions hinder the rescue operation in the mountainous, forested area where the crash is suspected to have occurred.
There is no information regarding the passengers aboard the helicopter, and the fate of the Iranian president remains unknown. A convoy of three helicopters was traveling from Tehran to Baku when one of them experienced a "forced hard landing." Raisi's companions contacted mission control to report the incident.
