Cause of helicopter crash that killed Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi revealed

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

The helicopter crash in which president Ebrahim Raisi was killed was allegedly caused by bad weather conditions, Iran's initial probe has found.

Raisi, 63, died alongside Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and two senior local officials on board the helicopter on 19 May. The bodies were found after hours of frantic search through a foggy mountainous region in Iran's East Azerbaijan province.

The president and the other men were flying in a US-made Bell 212 helicopter, when due to harsh weather conditions the aircraft lost the ability to handle the weight it was carrying, Fars news agency reported, citing a security source.

"The investigation in the case of Ayatollah Raisi's helicopter crash has been completed," the unnamed source told the news agency.

The source stressed it was absolutely certain that "what happened was an accident".

The two reasons for the accident were identified to be unsuitable weather conditions and the helicopter's inability to handle the weight it was carrying, leading to it crashing into a mountain, the source added.

The investigation indicates that the helicopter was carrying two people more than the capacity that security protocols allow, the source told Fars news agency.

However, the communications centre of the Armed Forces General Staff, responsible for publishing information on the crash investigation, denied the findings of the report, state media reported. The army in May had said it found no evidence of criminal activity in the crash.

"What is mentioned on Fars news about the presence of two people in the helicopter against the security protocols ... is completely false", the armed forces said.

The officials were traveling following a visit with the Azerbaijani president to discuss the joint Qiz-Qalasi Dam infrastructure project over the Aras River, which separates Iran and the Azerbaijani exclave Nakhchivan, when the helicopter crashed between Jolfa and the border region Varzaqan.

Up to 40 teams of rescuers – including Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, ambulances, surgeons, rangers, drones and dogs were involved in the search for Raisi – which lasted for hours as a result of fog, rain and darkness.

Raisi was a hardliner viewed as a potential successor to Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei. Since taking office in 2021, he has ordered a tightening of morality laws, overseen a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests and pushed hard in nuclear talks with world powers.

He was sanctioned by the US and other nations over his involvement in the mass execution of prisoners in 1988.

In 2010, he was among the individuals and entities who were sanctioned by the European Union for alleged involvement in “nuclear or ballistic missile activities”.