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World Countries Offer Iran Support in Raisi Search, Israel Denies Involvement

The helicopter that was carrying Raisi after taking off from near the Iranian-Azerbaijani border today (AP)
The helicopter that was carrying Raisi after taking off from near the Iranian-Azerbaijani border today (AP)
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World Countries Offer Iran Support in Raisi Search, Israel Denies Involvement

The helicopter that was carrying Raisi after taking off from near the Iranian-Azerbaijani border today (AP)
The helicopter that was carrying Raisi after taking off from near the Iranian-Azerbaijani border today (AP)

A number of countries around the world on Sunday offered help with rescue efforts to locate Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, whose helicopter was reportedly involved in an accident.

Saudi Arabia in a statement by the Foreign Ministry affirmed that its stands by the sisterly Islamic Republic of Iran in these difficult circumstances, stressing its readiness to provide any assistance that the Iranian agencies need.

In a statement on X, Qatar expressed its "deep concern" over the helicopter carrying Iran's president and foreign minister and offered "to provide all forms of support in the search".

The Gulf state's foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari gave "Qatar's wishes for the safety of the president, the foreign minister, and their companions", the statement added.

Also, the UAE foreign ministry said in a statement the country was prepared to offer all possible support in the search and rescue operations.

For its part, Kuwait said it was closely following with concern the reports regarding the helicopter accident and expressed its "support for the Islamic Republic of Iran in this critical situation."

Iranian search and rescue teams were scouring a fog-shrouded mountainside as Iranian state media said "an accident happened to the helicopter" transporting Raisi, a 63-year-old ultraconservative.

The Iraqi government said in a statement it had instructed its interior ministry, the Red Crescent and other relevant bodies to offer help to neighbouring Iran in the search mission.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday said he was "profoundly saddened" at news of the helicopter accident involving Raisi, and offered "all necessary support" to the search.

"We are following the incident closely, are in contact and in coordination with the Iranian authorities, and we are ready to provide all necessary support," Erdogan posted on X.

Also, a Turkish foreign ministry spokesman told AFP that Iran had requested technical support for its search.

"We are in the process of discussing the aid that could be sent over the fastest," he added. Tehran had also asked for technical support, said the spokesman.

The government's emergency aid agency AFAD said Türkiye had provided a helicopter equipped for night searches.

For its part, Russia is sending a team of rescuers to Iran to help search for the helicopter.

"At the request of the Iranian side, rescuers from the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations will assist in the search and rescue operation," the ministry wrote in a statement published on Telegram.

The team, which "consists of 47 specialists with the necessary gear and equipment, all-terrain vehicles, as well as a BO-105 helicopter," will head to the northwest city of Tabriz, it said.

Azerbaijan and Armenia also offered help with rescue efforts.

The European commissioner for crisis management, Janez Lenarcic, said the commission had activated its satellite mapping service to aid search efforts, following a request for assistance from Iran. The Copernicus Emergency Management Service provides mapping products based on satellite imagery.

Meanwhile, Israeli Channel 13 quoted official Israeli sources as saying that Israel had “no connection” to the helicopter crash.

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UN Decries Ongoing Combat in Myanmar as Earthquake Relief Faces Big Challenges

A man rides his motorbike past a collapsed building in Mandalay on April 11, 2025, following the devastating March 28 earthquake. (AFP)
A man rides his motorbike past a collapsed building in Mandalay on April 11, 2025, following the devastating March 28 earthquake. (AFP)
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UN Decries Ongoing Combat in Myanmar as Earthquake Relief Faces Big Challenges

A man rides his motorbike past a collapsed building in Mandalay on April 11, 2025, following the devastating March 28 earthquake. (AFP)
A man rides his motorbike past a collapsed building in Mandalay on April 11, 2025, following the devastating March 28 earthquake. (AFP)

Human rights experts for the United Nations are expressing urgent concern about ongoing military operations in Myanmar’s civil war, despite ceasefires called by major parties to facilitate relief efforts after the country’s devastating March 28 earthquake.

At the same time, a new UN report said that because of the earthquake, the Southeast Asian country is facing increased humanitarian needs while a food shortage and a health crisis appear to be looming.

“At a moment when the sole focus should be on ensuring humanitarian aid gets to disaster zones, the military is instead launching attacks,” Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office in Geneva said Friday. “Since the earthquake, military forces have reportedly carried out over 120 attacks – more than half of them after their declared ceasefire was due to have gone into effect on 2 April.”

The UN agency said: “We call on the military authorities to remove any and all obstacles to the delivery of humanitarian assistance and to cease military operations."

The official death toll from the 7.7 magnitude quake and aftershocks reached 3,649 as of Wednesday, with 5,018 injured.

“The devastating earthquakes that struck Myanmar on 28 March have caused widespread death, human suffering and destruction—aggravating an already alarming humanitarian crisis,” declared a UN Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan released Friday.

“Over 6.3 million people are in immediate need of humanitarian assistance and protection as a result of the earthquakes, including 4.3 million people who were already in need across the affected areas and now require even greater support, and an additional 2 million people who require urgent assistance and protection due to the earthquakes."

It also warned that the quake hit Myanmar's main food-producing regions, “destroying fields, irrigation, and grain stores. Millions of livestock are at risk, and farmers now face the loss of both their harvest and their only source of income.”

With disease already spreading, Myanmar is also at risk of a health emergency, especially as nearly 70 health facilities have been damaged, and there are severe shortages of medical supplies said the UN plan.

“Cases of diarrhea are rising, children and older people are falling ill from the heat, and concerns about cholera are growing, especially where bodies remain buried under the rubble in this extreme heat,” it said.

Myanmar’s military government and its battlefield opponents, which include pro-democracy fighters and ethnic minority guerrilla forces, have been trading accusations over alleged violations of ceasefire declarations each had declared to ease earthquake relief efforts.

Reports of continued fighting are widespread, with the army receiving the most criticism for continuing aerial bombing, according to independent Myanmar media and eyewitnesses.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army’s 2021 takeover ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, which led to nationwide peaceful protests that escalated into armed resistance and what now amounts to civil war.

The UN Human Rights Office's statement noted that most of the army’s attacks “have involved aerial and artillery strikes, including in areas impacted by the earthquake.”

“Numerous strikes have been reported in populated areas, many of them appearing to amount to indiscriminate attacks and to breach the principle of proportionality in international humanitarian law.”

The statement echoed points made late Thursday by Tom Andrews, the UN’s independent Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar.

“The Security Council should urgently consider a resolution that demands that all parties to the conflict in Myanmar cease offensive military operations and that the junta immediately end its human rights violations and obstruction of humanitarian relief efforts,” Andrews said in a press statement.

He described it as unfortunate but unsurprising that the army violated its own ceasefire “by launching dozens of new attacks with devastating results.”

“I have received reports of humanitarian workers being stopped, interrogated and extorted at military checkpoints,” Andrews said. “The junta has blocked access to opposition-controlled areas, including in Sagaing Region, which was severely impacted by the earthquake. Junta soldiers opened fire on a convoy by the Red Cross Society of China.”

“The 28 March earthquake is the latest in a litany of tragedies suffered by the people of Myanmar over the past four years,” Andrews said.