Military aircraft accidents are common in Iran due to the age of the aircraft, acquired before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran has not had access to purchasing new fighters for its Air Force. On Tuesday, February 24, 2026, at least four people died in the crash of a military helicopter that went down in a vegetable market in central Iran due to a technical failure, in the second accident of an aircraft of the Iranian Armed Forces in less than a week. "An Iranian Air Force helicopter crashed on Tuesday morning in a fruit and vegetable market in the city of Darreh Chah in Isfahan province," Tasnim agency, linked to the Revolutionary Guard, reported. "The accident resulted in the deaths of the pilot, co-pilot and two market vendors," added Tasnim, which pointed to a "technical failure" without specifying the cause of the accident. This is the second fatal aircraft accident after a fighter jet crashed in the northwest of the country for unexplained reasons on Thursday, in an accident in which one pilot died and another survived.
