US Denies Iran’s Request for Assistance After President’s Helicopter Death

Republican lawmakers blast State Department for extending condolences, citing dissidents’ description of the deceased as the ‘Butcher of Tehran.’

A response team recovers bodies at the crash site of a helicopter transporting Iran's president, his foreign minister, and others in a fog-covered mountainous area of Varzaghan in northwestern Iran on May 20, 2024.Azin Haghighi/MOJ News Agency/AFP via Getty Images

Iran sought “assistance” from the United States in the wake of the death of its president in a helicopter crash, a rare request that was ultimately turned down.

Iran’s late president, Ebrahim Raisi, died in the May 19 crash near the Iran-Azerbaijan border. Iranian state media reported that seven other people aboard the Bell 212 helicopter—including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian—also were killed.