Four people were killed after anย Iranian Air Force helicopter crashed into a fruit and vegetable market in central Iran on Tuesday. The crash took place in Isfahan province, home to the country’s key nuclear plant.
The incident occurred in the town of Dorcheh, about 330 kilometres south of Tehran in Isfahan province. Iranian state television reported that the helicopter came down during a training flight. Isfahan province hosts a major air base and a nuclear facility that the United States struck during the Iran-Israel war in June.
State TV said both the pilot and co-pilot were killed in the crash, and broadcast footage showing wreckage scattered across the market area with smoke rising from the site. The semiofficial Fars news agency reported that 2 people on the ground also died after the aircraft hit the market.
The crash marks the second such incident in less than a week. Recently, an F-4 fighter jet went down near the western city of Hamedan, killing 1 of its pilots.
Iran has experienced a number of fatal aviation accidents over the years. Western sanctions have restricted access to aircraft parts, leaving the country dependent on an ageing fleet of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft for both military and civilian use.
Isfahan nuclear facilityย
The Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center is one of Iran’s principal nuclear research and fuel production complexes. It includes a Uranium Conversion Facility, fuel fabrication plants and several research reactors.
After airstrikes in 2025, the site underwent fortification work, with tunnel entrances reinforced and in some cases buried, making physical access significantly more difficult.
Ebhrahim Raisi chooper crash
On May 19, 2024, a helicopter carrying former Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi crashed in the mountainous East Azerbaijan province of Iran while returning from a visit near the border with Azerbaijan.
the aircraft was part of a small convoy of three helicopters. the one carrying Raisi struck terrain after losing visual contact in dense fog and poor weather conditions and crashed near the village of Uzi. All eight people on board, including Raisi, foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the governor of East Azerbaijan Malek Rahmati, and other officials and crew, were killed.ย
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