Rescuers continued to search on foot after dark for the scene of the helicopter accident, in poor weather.
A total of 65 rescue teams were involved in the search for the helicopter’s crew, including the Iranian armed forces. According to the Tasnim news agency, the accident site has been located.
The incident is likely to reverberate across the Middle East. Iran has spent decades supporting armed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and the Palestinian territories that allow it to project power and potentially deter attacks from the United States or Israel, the sworn enemies of its 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Tensions have never been higher than they were last month when Iran under Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei launched hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles at Israel in response to an air strike on an Iranian consulate in Syria that killed two Iranian generals and five officers.