Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged the nation to pray on Sunday for the safety of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi following the crash.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called upon the country to pray on Sunday after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was aboard a helicopter that crashed.
A helicopter carrying Raisi, Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, the Friday prayers leader of Tabriz and representative of the Supreme Leader in the province, went down in the mountainous northwestern Iranian province of East Azerbaijan. Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), which is funded and controlled by the Iranian government, reported that the province’s governor Malek Rahmati was also on the helicopter.
The exact location is unconfirmed, with original reports placing the helicopter crash near the town of Jolfa, about 375 miles northwest of Tehran, the Iranian capital. Raisi’s helicopter was traveling in a convoy with two other helicopters, both of which reportedly landed safely.
In a post on his English X, formerly Twitter, account Khamenei wrote, « We hope Almighty God will return the respected, esteemed President and his entourage to the arms of the nation. » Shortly after he posted to X again, calling people to pray, writing, « Eve[r]yone should pray for the health of these people who are serving the Iranian nation.
