Bad Weather Caused Helicopter Crash That Killed Iran’s President, Report Says

Thick fog was a factor in the May crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi, an armed forces investigation found. His death shook Iran at a strained moment for the country

By Alan Yuhas

The helicopter crash that killed Iran’s president in May was mainly caused by bad weather, including dense fog, Iranian state media reported, citing the conclusions of a final investigation report.

The president, Ebrahim Raisi, was a hard-line religious cleric and a protégé of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. His death shook Iran at a strained moment for the country — facing a volatile conflict with Israel, economic struggles at home, and complex diplomacy over its nuclear program.

The state news agency, IRNA, had reported in June that “technical failure” had contributed to the crash. But on Sunday, it said the final report from an investigation by Iran’s armed forces had determined that “the accident was primarily caused by weather conditions, including thick fog.”

The investigation found that “all major repairs and replacement of critical parts” for the helicopter had been “carried out in accordance with standard regulations,” IRNA reported, and the debris showed “no defects” that could have contributed to the crash. IRNA added that the report found “no signs of sabotage or tampering.”

On the day of the crash, the president, along with the influential foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, and other officials, had been returning in a convoy of three helicopters from an event in Azerbaijan.

Shortly after takeoff, around 1 p.m., the helicopters flew into a heavy fog in a region of mountains and valleys, not far from Iran’s northern border.

When the lead helicopter emerged from the fog, the people onboard realized that they had lost track of the president’s helicopter behind them, and that it was not responding to radio calls, Mehrdad Bazrpash, the minister of transportation, later told state television.

The disappearance of the president’s helicopter set off a frenzied, difficult search through rain, fog and forests. There were no survivors at the crash site when the wreckage was found.

The helicopter had exploded on impact, Iran’s Armed Forces said in a statement, later adding that a preliminary investigation showed no signs of foul play or bullets on the aircraft. Some officials questioned whether security protocols were observed and why the president traveled by helicopter into bad weather conditions.

In addition to the president and the foreign minister, the helicopter was also carrying Ayatollah Mohammad-Ali Al-Hashem, who was an imam in the northern city of Tabriz; Malek Rahmati, the governor of East Azerbaijan Province; and Gen.

Seyed Mehdi Mousavi of the Ansar unit of the Revolutionary Guards Corps, Iran’s equivalent of the Secret Service, who was the chief of presidential security.

While some Iranians mourned Mr. Raisi, others welcomed the loss of a man they viewed as a central figure in a corrupt regime who oversaw the execution of dissidents, used violence to suppress and kill protesters, and arrested journalists and activists.

The death of Mr. Raisi, 63, prompted a special election that was won by a reformist candidate who advocated moderate policies at home and improved relations with the West.