Following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi and his companions in a “helicopter crash,” the judiciary, security, and law enforcement agencies of the Islamic Republic contacted journalists, media managers, and social media activists by phone, forbidding them from publishing unofficial and counter-narratives to the government’s account of the incident.
Starting around noon on Sunday, May 19, 2024 (Ordibehesht 30, 1403 in the Iranian calendar), reports surfaced of an “accident” involving the helicopter carrying President Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Tabriz Friday Prayer Leader Mohammad Ali Al-Hashem, and East Azerbaijan Governor Malek Rahmati. These officials were returning to Tabriz after attending the official inauguration ceremony of the Qiz Qalasi Dam on the Aras River, with the participation of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, when the helicopter crashed near the city of Varzeqan for unknown reasons.
The first report on this event was published by the Tasnim news agency, affiliated with the IRGC, which reported an “accident” involving the helicopter carrying President Raisi in East Azerbaijan Province. Tasnim initially claimed that “some of the president’s companions in this helicopter were able to make contact with the center.”
Minutes later, the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) reported that “some unofficial sources are reporting the martyrdom of some of the president’s companions.” Immediately afterward, Fars News Agency, another state-run news outlet close to the IRGC, published a different version of the event. This agency claimed: “The helicopter carrying the president landed due to foggy weather in the northern region of East Azerbaijan, and now the president’s convoy is heading to Tabriz by road.”
As the confusion in reporting on this event increased, the Kayhan newspaper’s website wrote: “The president’s condition is reported to be stable.” Raja News claimed: “The president is in good health,” and Fars, in another report, stated: “Some individuals were able to speak with Ayatollah Al-Hashem briefly after the incident, but the phones are currently unreachable.” However, Hossein Hatami, the MP for Kaleybar, denied any contact with the passengers of the helicopter carrying Raisi in an interview with the Jamaran website. Meanwhile, state media mainly reported uncertainty about Raisi’s fate.
About two hours after the first reports of the helicopter crash, Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi told IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) in an interview: “Today, we attended the inauguration of the Qiz Qalasi Dam with the presence of the Azerbaijani president, and afterward, the president, along with his companions, were on their way back with several helicopters, one of which had to make a hard landing due to bad weather and conditions in the region.”
State media continued to report the helicopter crash involving Raisi with the keyword “hard landing” for hours afterward—a term commonly used by Russian state media in similar incidents to describe the crash of their aircraft.
In the midst of conflicting news about the fate of Raisi and his companions, Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, said on Sunday evening during a meeting with the families of IRGC members: “The Iranian nation should not be worried; no disruption will occur in the country’s affairs.”
Simultaneously, the judiciary and security agencies of the Islamic Republic—much like in past significant social events—began taking security and judicial actions against journalists, media outlets, and media activists to prevent the official narrative from being challenged and to minimize the potential reaction of citizens to this event.
According to reports from the Defending Free Flow of Information, based on sources in East Azerbaijan Province, cyber police, intelligence officers in Tabriz, and prosecutors in the city began contacting media outlets and journalists active in the province around 6:00 PM on Sunday, instructing them: “You do not have the right to publish exclusive news and images regarding the crash of the helicopter carrying Raisi. Only republish news from official sources.” Additionally, several journalists and media activists from Tabriz and Ahar were barred from entering the crash site.
Thousands of Iranian citizens on social media, however, rejected the government’s narrative of this event and reacted with humor and joy to the possible news of Raisi’s death. From around 7:00 PM on Sunday, several journalists, media activists, and social media users reported receiving threatening phone calls from security and judicial authorities.
Economic journalist Hirsh Saeidian, Amirhossein Mosalla, editor-in-chief of Ayat Mandegar biweekly, and blogger and media activist Mohammad Moeini were among those who tweeted separately about receiving threatening calls from security agencies.
Simultaneously, Mizan News Agency published a report stating: “In recent hours, following reports of the helicopter crash carrying the president, some media figures have spread false news about this incident by producing content; the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office has issued warnings to several individuals who have caused public anxiety.”
Iran’s Law Enforcement Command (FRAJA) also issued a statement announcing: “All active pages in cyberspace are under police surveillance, and those who spread rumors to cause public anxiety will be dealt with.”
From 7:00 PM on Sunday, the Islamic Republic effectively gained a monopoly on news related to the helicopter crash involving Raisi and his companions. Afterward, the republication of statements by non-military officials in East Azerbaijan Province stopped, and gradually, state-run media became the primary source of all news surrounding the event.
Finally, the official announcement of Raisi and his companions’ deaths was made around 5:00 AM on Monday. First, the Iranian Red Crescent and state news agencies broadcast images of the helicopter wreckage being found, and then IRIB, the head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, the commander of the Tabriz Ashura IRGC, and other state media gradually confirmed the official news of Raisi and his companions’ deaths.
However, the Islamic Republic’s account of the helicopter crash had significant contradictions and unanswered questions, which fueled rumors about the incident. These doubts were not limited to the opponents of the Islamic Republic; even government supporters viewed the official narrative with skepticism.
Although IRIB and other mainstream state media attempted to address the ambiguities in the Islamic Republic’s narrative of the helicopter crash by interviewing government and military officials, some statements only added to the previous uncertainties.
Gholamhossein Esmaeili, Raisi’s chief of staff, was one of the officials who appeared on IRIB, claiming that he had managed to speak with Mohammad Ali Al-Hashem by phone several times after the helicopter crash—an assertion that had been denied on the day of the crash. However, this government official did not explain why the helicopter could not be located via the mobile phone of the Tabriz Friday Prayer Leader.
From the time of the initial report of the “accident” involving the helicopter carrying the president to the announcement of the helicopter wreckage being found, more than 14 hours had passed. After hours of the Islamic Republic’s failure to locate the crashed helicopter, state media reported that the famous Turkish drone “Akinci” had managed to identify the crash site and informed Iranian officials.
Following criticism of the Islamic Republic’s failure to deploy Iranian drones to find the wreckage, state media gradually retracted their initial reports about the wreckage being found by a Turkish drone, and eventually, the General Staff of the Armed Forces issued a statement claiming that the location of the crashed helicopter was found by Iranian drones.
In the days following the official announcement of Raisi and his companions’ deaths, the disruption of free information regarding the event continued.
On May 21 (June 1), the head of the Cyber Police (FATA) told the media: “Based on the implementation of preemptive monitoring plans in the past 36 hours, 550 specialized monitors were conducted on active websites in cyberspace, identifying 80 criminal titles, and of these, 35 operational actions, including warnings, summonses, and referrals to the judiciary, were carried out.” Meanwhile, Mehdi Bakhshi, the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor of Kerman Province, made a similar statement, saying: “Specialized monitoring of active websites in cyberspace was carried out, identifying 288 virtual activists and leaders, 254 of whom were given warnings and guidance over the phone, and eight were summoned to the judiciary.”
Simultaneously, journalist and women’s and international affairs translator Manijeh Moazzen tweeted on her X (formerly Twitter) account about a new legal case being opened against her due to her coverage and reaction to Raisi’s death, which had been referred to the Culture and Media Court. Additionally, former political prisoner and photojournalist Aliyeh Matloubzadeh reported being summoned by phone to Karaj’s Cyber Police. Matloubzadeh also tweeted that after her phone summons to the Cyber Police, her bank accounts were blocked despite not receiving an official written summons.
The scope of security and judicial actions against citizens who celebrated, reported, or joked about Raisi’s helicopter crash quickly extended beyond journalists and media outlets, resulting in the arrest, summons, and threatening phone calls to social media users, the families of citizens killed in anti-government protests, and lawyers.
In the days following the official announcement of Raisi and his companions’ deaths in the helicopter crash, and amid widespread disruption in the free flow of information in Iran, the Islamic Republic’s propaganda apparatus attempted to create new legitimacy for itself through the funeral ceremonies of the deceased. Images and videos of these ceremonies were widely disseminated in an effort to reshape the public image of Ebrahim Raisi, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Mohammad Ali Al-Hashem, and Malek Rahmati.