Current Affairs Iran

[tsubaki]

Apparently, Raisi’s (the President of Iran) helicopter has either crashed or had a hard landing (depending on who you believe) in a remote area:

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/19/middleeast/iranian-president-raisi-helicopter-intl/index.html

 

[Goat]

Apparently, Raisi’s (the President of Iran) helicopter has either crashed or had a hard landing (depending on who you believe) in a remote area:

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/19/middleeast/iranian-president-raisi-helicopter-intl/index.html

Hopefully nobody else but him is hurt.

 

[tsubaki]

Hopefully nobody else but him is hurt.

The foreign minister was apparently aboard it too, together with a local governor.

 

[tsubaki]

At the risk of saying something that conspiracy theorists may well be drumming into everyone over the next few days, Azeri-Iranian relations can be somewhat tense (despite a recent thaw) and the Azerbaijani government does have surprisingly close relations with the Israelis (at least pre-October 7th).

 

[PhilM]

According to the BBC:

Bad weather - with heavy fog and rain - is hampering the efforts of rescue teams to get to the accident site in the mountains in the north-west of Iran.

The condition of those on board the helicopter remains unknown for now, with reports that no contact has yet been made.

President Raisi was travelling with the Iranian foreign minister in a convoy of three helicopters over the area - two of the helicopters are reported to have landed safely.

Raisi was elected president on his second attempt in 2021.

He is seen as a hardliner and regarded as a potential successor one day to Ayatollah Khamenei as Supreme Leader.

I'm going for those on board are dead, or will be soon.

 

[Willie Thorne]

Archduke Franz Ferdinand vibes..

 

[tsubaki]

According to the BBC:


I'm going for those on board are dead, or will be soon.

TBF it’s a very strange set of circumstances- you’d have thought the senior people would be on different helicopters, and it’s almost impossible to think the other helicopters (reports say there were two others) wouldn’t have helped when the emergency was declared / they saw it crash. If they couldn’t see it because of the weather it would have been too bad to fly.

 

[PhilM]

TBF it’s a very strange set of circumstances- you’d have thought the senior people would be on different helicopters, and it’s almost impossible to think the other helicopters (reports say there were two others) wouldn’t have helped when the emergency was declared / they saw it crash. If they couldn’t see it because of the weather it would have been too bad to fly.

It could boil down to their operational orders because I would not be surprised if they were flying under little to no communications, based on who is on board.

With the weather what is apparently is (very dense fog, <5m visibility and difficult terrain), it isn't inconceivable that they weren't aware that it had gone down.

In an ideal world, as you would say, they wouldn't have flown, but that is not the case in many occasions.

 

[tsubaki]

It could boil down to their operational orders because I would not be surprised if they were flying under little to no communications, based on who is on board.

With the weather what is apparently is (very dense fog, <5m visibility and difficult terrain), it isn't inconceivable that they weren't aware that it had gone down.

In an ideal world, as you would say, they wouldn't have flown, but that is not the case in many occasions.

Maybe, and certainly (if this is what’s happened) they wouldn’t be the first powerful people who’ve ended up ordering their own deaths by getting pilots to fly in dangerous conditions.

I just find it inconceivable that the other helicopters in the formation wouldn’t have known though; I mean unless it’s so sudden that they’ve exploded in mid air, flown into something or the pilot has gone rogue there would have been a distress call surely.

I don’t have any other explanation mind, as I said earlier if they did know and didn’t try and help when they might have been able to help thats extremely hard to imagine too, they’d be at best banged up for years.

As you say it sounds grim for those aboard, let’s all hope this was a mechanical thing because otherwise it doesn’t bear thinking about.

 

[PhilM]

Maybe, and certainly (if this is what’s happened) they wouldn’t be the first powerful people who’ve ended up ordering their own deaths by getting pilots to fly in dangerous conditions.

I just find it inconceivable that the other helicopters in the formation wouldn’t have known though; I mean unless it’s so sudden that they’ve exploded in mid air, flown into something or the pilot has gone rogue there would have been a distress call surely.

I don’t have any other explanation mind, as I said earlier if they did know and didn’t try and help when they might have been able to help thats extremely hard to imagine too, they’d be at best banged up for years.

As you say it sounds grim for those aboard, let’s all hope this was a mechanical thing because otherwise it doesn’t bear thinking about.

Without knowing anything apart from what I have read, I would be somewhat surprised if this wasn't the case, or if it isn't a malfunction.

If it is something more sinister, then God help us all.

 

[Martin Alvito]

Without knowing anything apart from what I have read, I would be somewhat surprised if this wasn't the case, or if it isn't a malfunction.

If it is something more sinister, then God help us all.

I forget which publication pointed out that Iran has had a great deal of difficulty sourcing repair parts for an old helicopter fleet since 1979.

 

[Huyton Layne]

Saw video and the fog is incredibly thick. I wouldn't fancy a helicopter ride through that.

 

[Prevenger17]

Colin McRae, Kobe and now Ebrahim Raisi. When will people learn?

 

[Spadge Vernacular]

 

[Tipp blue]

That fog is serious.. not great conditions for helicoptering.