From Reuters:
“Iranian President Ebrahim
Raisi, hardline ally of Supreme Leader, killed in helicopter crash”
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi,
a hardliner seen as a potential successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, was killed after his helicopter crashed in poor weather in mountains
near the Azerbaijan border, officials and state media said on Monday. The
charred wreckage of the helicopter which crashed on Sunday carrying Raisi,
Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and six other passengers and crew was
found early on Monday after an overnight search in blizzard conditions. Supreme
Leader Khamenei, who holds ultimate power with a final say on foreign policy
and Iran's nuclear programme, said First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, would
take over as interim president, the official IRNA news agency reported. "I
announce five days of public mourning and offer my condolences to the dear
people of Iran," Khamenei said in a statement. Mokhber, like Raisi, is
seen as close to Khamenei.
Under the Islamic Republic's
constitution, a new presidential election must be held within 50 days. Any
candidate must first be vetted by the Guardian Council, a hardline watchdog
that has often disqualified even prominent conservative and moderate officials,
meaning the overall thrust of Iranian policy would be unlikely to change. Footage
from Iranian state television showed wreckage scattered on a foggy hillside,
while separate images from IRNA showed Red Crescent workers carrying a covered
body on a stretcher. All those aboard the helicopter were killed, a senior
Iranian official had earlier told Reuters. Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri
Kani was appointed as acting foreign minister following the death of
Amirabdollahian, IRNA said. The crash comes at a time of growing dissent within
Iran over an array of political, social and economic crises. Iran's clerical
rulers face international pressure over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme and
its deepening military ties with Russia during the war in Ukraine.
'SHADOW WAR' Since Iran's
ally Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, provoking Israel's assault on Gaza,
conflagrations involving Iran-aligned groups have erupted throughout the Middle
East. A long "shadow war" between Iran and Israel broke into
the open last month with tit-for-tat exchanges of drone and missile fire. An
Israeli official told Reuters it was not involved in the crash. "It wasn't
us," said the official, who requested anonymity. State media
reported that images from the site showed the U.S.-made Bell 212 helicopter
slammed into a mountain peak, although there was no official word on the cause
of the crash. The dead also included the governor of East Azerbaijan Province
and a senior imam from Tabriz city.
Decades of sanctions have made it
hard for Iran to obtain parts or upgrade its aircraft. Russia offered to assist
Iran with investigating the crash. The helicopter went down in Varzeqan
region north of Tabriz, state news agency IRNA reported, as Raisi returned from
an official visit to the border with Azerbaijan in Iran's northwest. Raisi,
63, was elected president in 2021, and since taking office has ordered a
tightening of morality laws, overseen a bloody crackdown on anti-government
protests and pushed hard in nuclear talks with world powers.
Messages of condolences poured in
from Iran's regional neighbours and allies, including the leaders of Saudi
Arabia, Syria, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Iraq and
Pakistan. Russian President Vladimir Putin called Raisi "a true
friend of Russia". The Kremlin said he had spoken to Mokhber by phone and
both stressed "mutual intention to further strengthen Russian-Iranian
interaction". Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was
"deeply shocked and saddened" There was less reaction from Western
capitals, though the European Union and Japan expressed condolences. Iran-backed
militant group Hamas, fighting Israeli forces in Gaza with Tehran's support,
issued a statement expressing sympathy to the Iranian people for "this
immense loss." Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group and the Houthi rebels
in Yemen also issued statements praising Raisi and mourning his death. Meanwhile,
the exiled opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran,
described his death in a statement as a "monumental and irreparable
strategic blow" to the Islamic Republic.
DIFFICULT TERRAIN Rescue
teams fought rain, blizzards and difficult terrain through the night to reach
the wreckage in the early hours of Monday. Earlier, the national
broadcaster had stopped all regular programming to show prayers being held for
Raisi across the country. Video showed a rescue team, wearing bright
jackets and head torches, huddled around a GPS device as they searched a
pitch-black mountainside on foot. In Iran's dual political system, split
between the clerical establishment and the government, it is Raisi's
85-year-old mentor Khamenei, supreme leader since 1989, who holds
decision-making power on all major policies. Raisi's victory in a
closely managed election in 2021 brought all branches of power under the
control of hardliners, after eight years when the presidency had been held by
pragmatist Hassan Rouhani and a nuclear deal negotiated with powers including
Washington. However, Raisi's standing may have been dented by widespread
protests against clerical rule following the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman
Mahsa Amini in morality police custody, and a failure to turn around Iran's
economy, hamstrung by Western sanctions. Raisi had been at the Azerbaijani
border on Sunday to inaugurate the Qiz-Qalasi Dam, a joint project.
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, who said he had bid a "friendly
farewell" to Raisi earlier in the day, had offered assistance in the rescue.
^ I, and the World. Should not
feel sorry or mourn his death. A Bad Man is now gone. ^
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