20-5-2024 (ANKARA) A Turkish drone has allegedly identified a “source of heat suspected to be the wreckage of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi,” according to a report from Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency on the social media platform X.
The agency claims that Turkey has shared the coordinates with Iranian authorities, although there has been no immediate comment or confirmation from the Iranian side regarding this development.
Akinci UAV identifies source of heat suspected to be wreckage of helicopter carrying Iranian President Raisi and shares its coordinates with Iranian authorities pic.twitter.com/0tZtMc5oaP
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) May 20, 2024
As the nation holds its breath, expressions of concern and prayers for the president’s well-being have poured in from across the globe. In Tehran, a 29-year-old journalist identified only as Vakili expressed her fears to the news agency AFP, stating, “I feared the worst, and it recalled previous tense moments in recent years.”
Drawing parallels to the 2020 U.S. drone strike that claimed the life of revered Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad, Vakili added, “It’s a strange feeling, like we felt before with Haj Qasem Soleimani. I hope they are okay and that they are found.”
Hadi, a private sector employee in the capital, echoed the sentiment, revealing his profound sadness: “I am deeply saddened. We hope that he [Raisi] and his companions are found in good health.”
In a poignant display of faith, a group of men knelt on the side of a street, clasping strands of prayer beads and watching a video of Raisi praying, some visibly weeping. One of the men, Mehdi Seyedi, expressed the collective hope: “If anything happens to him, we’ll be heartbroken. May the prayers work, and may he return to the arms of the nation safe and sound.”
Earlier today, Iran’s state-run news agency Irna published images purportedly showing the helicopter carrying President Raisi as it took off from near the border with Azerbaijan on Sunday. According to Irna, accompanying Raisi were Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, and other officials and bodyguards.
The agency reported that Raisi was flying in a U.S.-made Bell 212 helicopter, a model Iran operates despite international sanctions making it challenging to obtain spare parts. Iran’s military air fleet largely predates the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and the photograph published by Irna depicts a helicopter with a blue-and-white paint scheme consistent with previously published images.
