Iran blames weather conditions for failure to reach President Raisi’s copter

Unstable weather conditions are encumbering efforts to reach the location where a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi made a "hard landing," Interior Minister Ahmad Vahid said on Sunday. A helicopter carrying the Iranian president and Tehran's foreign minister made a "hard landing" as it passed through a mountainous area on its way back from Azerbaijan, where Raisi had been on a state visit, the interior minister told state television. State television began to broadcast prayers in the aftermath of the incident, calling on Iranians to "pray" for the safety of the president and his entourage. Earlier on Sunday, the Iranian president participated in the inauguration ceremony of a joint dam between Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, in the presence of his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev. On his way back, the helicopter transporting Raisi had experienced a "hard landing," according to Iran's state news agency IRNA. Source: Kuwait News Agency