By The Smartencyclopedia Staff & Agencies
May 20, 2024 / 1:23 PM EDT
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and several other officials were found dead Monday after their helicopter crashed in a foggy, mountainous region in northwest Iran, state media reported. Raisi was 63.
The crash comes as the Middle East is unsettled by the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, during which Raisi, under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel just last month. Under Raisi, Iran enriched uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels, further escalating tensions with the West as Tehran also supplied bomb-carrying drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine and continued arming proxy groups in the Mideast such as Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
State TV provided no immediate cause for the crash in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. The Iranian Red Crescent confirmed the recovery of the bodies from the crash site, according to Agence France-Presse.
Crash Details
The helicopter, which also carried the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and other officials, went down late Sunday. Early Monday, Turkish authorities released drone footage showing what appeared to be a fire in the wilderness suspected to be the wreckage. The coordinates placed the fire approximately 12 miles south of the Azerbaijan-Iranian border on a steep mountain.
Footage released by IRNA early Monday showed what the agency described as the crash site across a steep valley in a green mountain range. Soldiers speaking in the local Azeri language said: “There it is, we found it.”
Khamenei had urged the public to pray for Raisi and his colleagues Sunday night, saying, “We hope that God the Almighty returns the dear president and his colleagues in full health to the arms of the nation,” drawing an “amen” from the worshipers he was addressing.
Succession and Government Continuity
Under the Iranian constitution, Iran’s first vice president takes over if the president dies, with Khamenei’s assent, and a new presidential election would be called within 50 days. First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber has already begun receiving calls from officials and foreign governments in Raisi’s absence, state media reported. An emergency Cabinet meeting was held Monday morning, after which the Cabinet pledged to follow Raisi’s path and assured that “with the help of God and the people, there will be no problem with management of the country.”
Raisi’s Legacy
Ebrahim Raisi, a hard-liner who formerly led the country’s judiciary, was viewed as a protégé of Khamenei and was considered a potential successor to the 85-year-old leader. With Raisi’s death, attention shifts to Mojtaba Khamenei, the 55-year-old son of the supreme leader, though the notion of a hereditary succession remains controversial given the Islamic Revolution’s overthrow of the Pahlavi monarchy.
Raisi won Iran’s 2021 presidential election, which saw the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history. He was sanctioned by the U.S. over his involvement in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 at the end of the Iran-Iraq war.
Mass protests have continued in Iran, particularly after the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a woman detained over her alleged improper wearing of a hijab. The subsequent crackdown resulted in over 500 deaths and 22,000 detentions.
Future Uncertainties
Raisi is the second Iranian president to die in office. In 1981, a bomb blast killed President Mohammad Ali Rajai in the chaotic days following the revolution. Raisi had been in Azerbaijan early Sunday to inaugurate a dam with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, despite strained relations between the two nations.
Iran operates a variety of helicopters, but international sanctions have made it difficult to obtain parts, and its military air fleet largely dates back to before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
As Iran navigates this period of mourning and transition, the future of its leadership and regional policies remains uncertain, compounded by ongoing internal and external pressures.