Iran, May 24, 2024 –The Iranian Armed Forces have denied that a captured Turkish drone helped in identifying the wreckage of President Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter, stressing the prowess of Iranian UAVs.
On Monday, Turkey’s Anadolu Agency said that a Turkish Akinci drone identified “a heat source believed to be the helicopter wreckage” and shared its coordinates with Iran. However, Iran’s military denied this claim, they said that the Turkish drone that was fitted with night vision and thermal cameras to detect the crash site could not do an accurate job due to the lack of detection equipment and control points below the clouds.
Iran’s military leaders also stated that they could not launch their state-of-the-art UAVs equipped with SAR because they were located in the northern part of the Indian Ocean at that time. The remains of President Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and other Iranian officials, whose crash site was discovered on Monday morning with help from Iranian ground teams and recalled drones, were retrieved from the crash site.
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IRNA – Iran’s official news agency stated that the coordinates given by the Turkish drones were off by 7 kilometers or 4 miles. As among the friendly nations Iran decided to ask for help from Turkey because the accident happened in the northwestern part of the country.
Despite certain Iranian media and Turkish drone footage claiming that foreign assistance has been provided, Pir Hossein Kolivand, the chairman of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, dismissed such allegations as hearsay. Kolivand praised the Iranian team stating that their drone pinpointed the crash location in 40 minutes at an altitude of 2,500 meters. Iran and Turkey both possess extensive drone capabilities and seek export markets for their unmanned aerial vehicles and UAVs. Western allies have alleged that Iran has been providing drones to Russia for use in the Ukraine war.
