More than 60 rescue teams using search dogs and drones were sent to the mountainous protected forest area of Dizmar near the town of Varzaghan, the IRNA news agency reported.
International
Biden calls Putin a ‘war criminal’
President Biden explicitly called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” Wednesday, after weeks of avoiding the term and at a time when his administration is still determining whether that label officially applies.
Biden made the dramatic accusation seemingly off the cuff, in response to a reporter’s shouted question at an afternoon event on an entirely different topic. “I think he is a war criminal,” Biden said, after delivering comments on the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
The asseveration was emblematic of the day’s high emotions and dramatic agenda, which were driven by a forceful speech to Congress delivered by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, rather than by Biden’s own carefully laid plans and message.
Biden watched Zelensky’s 9 a.m. address from the private library of his White House residence, absorbing an emotional plea that invoked both Pearl Harbor and Sept. 11 — two deadly attacks on the United States that came from the sky — and beseeched the president to close the skies above Ukraine.
“Our country experienced the same every day, right now, at this moment, every night for three weeks now,” Zelensky said, speaking to lawmakers via video with the help of an interpreter.
Almost exactly four hours later, Biden responded with own remarks praising Zelensky’s “passionate” and “significant” speech, outlining the help his administration is providing Ukraine and announcing significant new aid. But he also made clear that the crux of Zelensky’s appeal — a no-fly zone above Ukraine — remains a nonstarter for the United States.
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Biden’s comments, which began more than an hour after initially scheduled and ran half the length of Zelensky’s entreaty — eight minutes to Zelensky’s 16 — underscored the fluid dynamic between the two leaders, with Biden (wearing a suit, subdued, age 79) finding himself, for one of the first times since Russia invaded Ukraine, clearly in response mode to Zelensky (clad in military green, resolute, age 44).
“The American people are answering President Zelensky’s call for more help, more weapons for Ukraine to defend itself, more tools to fight Russian aggression,” Biden said.
His comments at times took on an almost defensive tone, as he noted that the United States had been equipping Ukraine since before the invasion, that American weapons have helped the Ukrainians inflict significant damage and that the $800 million in new aid he was announcing would include “cutting-edge systems” such as drones.
Starting with Russia’s initial buildup on the Ukrainian border last fall, Biden and his team took the lead in trying to avert Russian aggression against its neighbor. The administration worked with NATO and other Western allies to deter Putin through diplomatic channels and the threat of sanctions. And Biden himself signed off on a new strategy to declassify intelligence, sharing it with the world in an attempt to thwart Putin’s ability to use a false pretext to invade Ukraine.
The White House even launched a secretive “Tiger Team” to plan for how to handle a Russian invasion.
Indeed, if Russia’s bellicosity offered any silver lining, it was that Putin helped catapult Biden back into a position in which he is most comfortable, serving as a transatlantic leader and declaring — both literally and symbolically — that America is back after four years of chaos and alliance-busting under Donald Trump.
But since the actual war between Russia and Ukraine began three weeks ago, Biden and his European counterparts have articulated no clear end game, and Wednesday’s Biden-Zelensky juxtaposition offered something of a split screen, with the U.S. president and his team trying to explain why the administration was falling short on meeting Zelensky’s stirring request.
The Ukrainian leader ended his speech by switching to English and calling out Biden directly: “You are the leader of the nation, of your great nation,” Zelensky said. “I wish you to be the leader of the world. Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.”
In response, Biden found himself explaining at great length what he has already done to support Ukraine and announcing that he is authorizing an additional $800 million in security assistance, noting that it brought the total to $1 billion “just this week” and to $2 billion since the start of his administration.
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“This new package on its own is going to provide unprecedented assistance to Ukraine,” Biden said. “It includes 800 antiaircraft systems to make sure the Ukrainian military can continue to stop the planes and helicopters that have been attacking their people and to defend the Ukrainian airspace. And at the request of President Zelensky, we have identified and are helping Ukraine acquire additional longer-range antiaircraft systems and the munitions for those systems.”
The White House reported that the $800 million in new assistance includes 800 Stinger antiaircraft systems; 2,000 Javelin, 1,000 light anti-armor weapons, and 6,000 AT-4 anti-armor systems; 100 Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems; 100 grenade launchers, 5,000 rifles, 1,000 pistols, 400 machine guns and 400 shotguns; more than 20 million rounds of small-arms ammunition and grenade launcher and mortar rounds; 25,000 sets of body armor; and 25,000 helmets.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki was repeatedly pressed on why the administration has been willing to provide Ukraine lethal assistance, such as Javelin antitank missiles and Stinger surface-to-air missiles, while repeatedly refusing Zelensky’s requests for Polish MiG fighter jets.
The administration has sought to draw a careful line between defensive and offensive weapons, arguing that the latter risked setting off a direct confrontation with Russia that could turn into a larger war.
“I would note that the equipment that we’ve provided is defensive, as you know, not offensive,” Psaki said. “And we see that as being a difference.”
And again, several minutes later, Psaki offered: “Javelins and Stingers are defensive weapons. MiGs or planes are offensive weapons, which are a different type of military system.”
But Poland has offered to provide fighter planes to the United States for use in Ukraine, a notion that has some bipartisan support on Capitol Hill. Immediately after Zelensky’s speech, several Republican lawmakers weighed in with calls for the Biden administration to send Zelensky the MiGs he wants.
“Zelensky has the courage of his convictions. The question he asked the Congress and the United States government is will we have the courage of ours,” said Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.). “We’re a superpower — we should act like it.”
Asked about a no-fly zone, Sasse added: “We should have gotten them planes long ago.”
And referring to a video Zelensky showed Congress that included footage of his country being decimated, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) offered a similar assessment.
“I don’t know how anyone could listen to him and see the videos and not be in favor of sending the MiGs, sending drones, sending additional weaponry, ceasing doing business in Russia and implementing his call for broader sanctions,” Collins said.
As for Biden’s unexpected comment that Putin is a war criminal, Psaki depicted it as a heartfelt remark. “The president’s remarks speak for themselves,” she said. “He was speaking from his heart and speaking from what we’ve seen on television, which is barbaric actions by a brutal dictator through his invasion of a foreign country.”
She reiterated Wednesday that the State Department is conducting a legal review to determine whether the actions in Ukraine are war crimes. “If Russia is intentionally targeting civilians, that would be a war crime,” she said last week in disclosing the inquiry. “But we need to go through the legal assessment and review in order to make a formal conclusion.”
Vice President Harris endorsed a war crimes inquiry last week, speaking during a visit to Poland, saying, “Absolutely there should be an investigation, and we should all be watching.” And in The Hague, the prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court recently announced that it was looking into the Ukraine situation.
But neither the international court nor the U.S. government has formally concluded that Russia’s actions constitute war crimes, making Biden’s seemingly spontaneous assertion Wednesday all the more striking.
Psaki emphasized that the administration has been in regular contact with the Ukrainians, saying that while Biden is not prepared to accede to every demand by Zelensky, nothing the Ukrainian leader requested came as a surprise.
“If we were President Zelensky, we would be asking for everything possible as well, and continuing to ask for it,” Psaki said. “Because he is watching his country and his people be attacked and brutalized by President Putin and the Russian military,” Psaki said.
THE WASHINGTON POST
International
BREAKING: Iranian Imam survived helicopter crash for an hour, tried to raise help – Report
BREAKING: Iranian Imam survived helicopter crash for an hour, tried to raise help – Report
As more details emerge about the helicopter crash, a harrowing picture is taking shape.
One of the passengers on board was Mohammad Ali Al-Hashem, Friday Prayer Imam of Tabriz, the city the convoy was travelling to.
According to Mohammad Nami, head of Iran’s Crisis Management Agency, Al-Hashem survived for a whole hour after the crash. He even tried to make contact with the president’s office.
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“No DNA tests were needed to identify the passengers,” says Nami. In total, nine people including the flight crew were killed in the helicopter crash.
BREAKING: Iranian Imam survived helicopter crash for an hour, tried to raise help – Report
International
Updated: Iran President Raisi confirmed dead in helicopter crash
Updated: Iran President Raisi confirmed dead in helicopter crash
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has been confirmed dead in a helicopter crash that occurred on Sunday.
Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was also among those killed, along with seven others.
Iran’s Red Crescent chief Pirhossein Koolivand said rescue teams headed towards the site of the crash after locating the aircraft.
He said, “The helicopter has been found. Now, we are moving toward the helicopter,” said Koolivand. “We are seeing the helicopter. The situation is not good.”
“Upon finding the helicopter, there was no sign of the helicopter passengers being alive as of yet,” state TV reported about 15 hours after the aircraft went missing.
Iranian media including Fars news agency also shared drone images of what appeared to be the wreckage of the helicopter.
Raisi’s death comes at a moment in the Middle East, with war raging in Gaza.
The helicopter crashed weeks after Iran launched a drone-and-missile attack on Israel in response to a deadly strike on its diplomatic compound in Damascus.
Raisi became president in a historically uncompetitive election in 2021. Previously the chief justice, he oversaw a period of intensified repression of dissent in a nation convulsed by youth-led protests against clerical rule.
He was the second-most powerful person in the Islamic Republic’s political structure after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khomeini.
The Iranian Constitution mandates that, in the case of the president’s death, the first vice president assumes office with the approval of the Supreme Leader.
Iran was thrown into uncertainty Sunday as search and rescue teams scoured a fog-shrouded mountain area after President Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter went missing in what state media described as an “accident”.
Fears grew for the 63-year-old ultraconservative after contact was lost in East Azerbaijan province, reports said.
The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urged Iranians to “not worry” about the leadership of the Islamic republic, saying “there will be no disruption in the country’s work”.
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“We hope that Almighty God will bring our dear president and his companions back in full health into the arms of the nation,” he said in a nationally televised address as Muslim faithful prayed for Raisi’s safe return.
Expressions of concern and offers to help came from abroad, including Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Russia, and Turkey, as well as from the European Union which activated its rapid response mapping service to aid in the search effort.
International
JUST IN: Helicopter carrying Iran’s president crash-lands
JUST IN: Helicopter carrying Iran’s president crash-lands
A helicopter carrying Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi, has been involved in an plane crash on Sunday.
The incident happened while he was visiting neighbouring Azerbaijan, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on X on Sunday according to CNN.
“Some of the president’s companions on this helicopter were able to communicate with Central Headquarters, raising hopes that the incident could have ended without casualties,” it added.
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It is unclear what the exact status is of Raisi’s helicopter.
The helicopter was part of a convoy of three helicopters. Two of those helicopters were carrying ministers and officials who arrived at their destination safely, according to Tasnim.
“Seyyed Mohammad-Ali Al-Hashem, Tabriz’s Friday Prayer Imam, and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were also reportedly on the helicopter with the president,” Tasnim said on X.
JUST IN: Helicopter carrying Iran’s president crash-lands
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