Saudi Arabia, Russia, Gulf States Offer Assistance in Raisi Chopper Search
Saudi Arabia, Russia, and several Gulf states have expressed concern and offered assistance in the search for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter, which went missing on Sunday. Raisi, 63, and his entourage were traveling to a gas field in the southeastern Iranian province of Kerman when the incident occurred.
Iranian state media reported that the helicopter crashed in a mountainous area due to poor weather conditions. Emergency personnel and search and rescue teams have been deployed to the site.
Saudi Arabia, a longtime rival of Iran, has offered to provide support, underscoring the warming relations between the two countries in recent months. Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait have also expressed their concern and offered assistance. Russia has offered to send a team of experts to Iran to assist in the search and rescue operations.
The incident has drawn attention to the ongoing efforts to improve relations between Iran and its neighbors in the Middle East.
Background:
* Shiite-majority Iran and Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia have long been on opposing sides of regional conflicts, including in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.
* In 2016, bilateral ties were severed after attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran during protests over Riyadh’s execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
* In March 2023, the Middle East heavyweights announced a surprise rapprochement brokered by China, and they have been in relatively frequent contact in recent months as they worked to contain the war triggered in Gaza by Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel.
* That diplomatic outreach included the first phone call between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler, and Raisi just five days after the war broke out and a visit by Raisi to Riyadh in November for a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
