About two hours after initial reports of the crash of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi, an Iranian official confirmed to the Reuters news agency that there is serious fear for Raisi's life and those of the other passengers aboard the copter.
In the meantime, an Iranian security source said that the crash places Iran in a "major security incident," as he defined it.
According to the source: "The downing of the president's helicopter out of the three in the convoy places us in a major and dangerous security escalation." He also added that in Iran there is fear that the incident was a "big assassination attempt."
Earlier, a video was published of Raisi, the Iranian foreign minister, and two senior Azerbaijani officials flying together in the president's personal helicopter before contact was cut off.
At the same time, the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) reported the "martyrdom of some of the companions of the Iranian president in the area of the crash."
