Iranian president’s plane makes emergency landing in Rasht on return from Bishkek

Masoud Pezeshkian’s presidential aircraft landed in Rasht rather than Tehran after carrying him back from Kyrgyzstan, where he attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit. Several foreign media outlets reported the unexpected landing on September 2.

Azerbaijan’s Axar.az and TodayPress, citing Israel’s Channel 12, described the landing as an emergency. Open-source information confirmed that the aircraft with the presidential call sign IRAN02 was on the ground at Rasht International Airport on the evening of September 1.

The reason for the change remained unclear at the time of publication. The Iranian president’s administration had not issued an official statement explaining why the flight did not continue to Tehran.

TodayPress reported that air-defence systems were activated in eastern Tehran that evening and suggested this may have prompted the change in route. No official confirmation established a direct link between the air-defence activity and the landing in Rasht.

Pezeshkian visited Kyrgyzstan on August 31 and September 1 for a working trip. In Bishkek, he attended the SCO summit, the “SCO Plus” format and the opening ceremony of the sixth World Nomad Games. He also met Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kyrgyz capital.