After 16 hours of searching, rescue crews located the wreckage of the helicopter that carried Ebrahim Raisi, Amirabdolakhian and other officials from Azerbaijan to Iran. Their deaths in the crash have been confirmed,
According to the first information, the helicopter, American-made in 1979, seems to have crashed into a mountain peak and burst into flames. There was bad weather in the area, with thick fog, which made the work of the rescuers difficult. Teams of rescuers from Turkey and the EU also helped in the searches.
In Iran, citizens are mourning, while Iran’s supreme religious leader, Ali Khamenei, as well as the cabinet rush to reassure the world that the country’s governance will not be disrupted. Raisi’s temporary replacement will be the current deputy prime minister Mohammad Mohbar.
“The president of the Iranian people who worked hard and unceasingly and did nothing but serve the people with the goal of progress, kept his promise and sacrificed himself for the Nation,” the Cabinet said in a statement.
Condolences from Iran’s allies
Iran’s allies were the first to express their condolences over Raisi’s death. Recep Tayyip Erdogan called him his brother and expressed his support for Iran.
Lebanon declared three days of mourning, while Hezbollah and the rest of the Axis of Resistance speak of a great loss of an important ally.
“These leaders supported the legitimate struggle of our people once morest the Zionists and provided valuable assistance to the Palestinian resistance,” Hamas said in a statement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke of a true friend of Russia. “(The president) expressed his deep condolences for the plane tragedy that took the life of the country’s leadership,” the Kremlin spokesman said.
In one of the first reactions of the Israelis, an official who maintains his anonymity, hastened to declare that Israel has no involvement in what happened.
There is no evidence of deliberate action, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said, citing US intelligence officials.
Condolences were expressed by the EU leadership and France, while Iranian exiles gathered outside the Iranian embassy in London to celebrate Raishi’s death.
Iran is at a critical crossroads
President Ebrahim Raishi was the second-in-command of the Iranian political power and chosen by the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whom he was also expected to succeed.
The vacancy paves the way for Khamenei’s son, Moztaba, to succeed him. A hardline cleric who became president, Raisi became involved in politics following the 1979 Islamic revolution and gradually rose through the ranks, having served as head of the country’s judiciary and a member of the assembly of sages who choose the Supreme Leader, among other positions.
He ascended to the presidency in 2021, in an electoral contest from which most moderate and reformist candidates had been excluded and from which a large portion of the voters abstained.
Since then it has consistently expressed the ideology of the hardline elite, adopting a sharp anti-Western rhetoric and promoting Tehran’s independence once morest international sanctions over its nuclear program.
“The acquisition of nuclear weapons does not belong to our doctrine./But the use of nuclear technology in agriculture, industry, the oil sector and many other sectors of the economy was and will certainly be on our agenda,” said the late president Ibrahim Raisi.
“The Koran is never burned. The Koran is eternal,” he emphasized to the UN.
His presidency was marred by the anti-government protests that swept the country in 2022 following the death of Mahsha Amini, and their bloody repression, while for Iranian dissidents his name is synonymous with the mass executions of Marxists and leftists in 1988, when he was the prosecutor of Revolutionary Court of Tehran.
“The West thinks that Iran is like other countries that may indulge in unrest. We have educated men and women here. The students will not allow the protesters to do whatever they want,” he had also said.
Raisi’s death comes at a critical time for Iran amid the war in Gaza and with the hitherto shadowy Iran-Israel war coming to light for the first time.
“If the Zionist regime makes the slightest move to violate our territory and harm the national interests of the Islamic Republic, it should know that it will face a harsh response,” Raisi said.
The move to the next day comes with Mohammad Mohbar, the first vice-president to take over as president and the holding of elections within 50 days.
The 68-year-old former banker also belongs to Khamenei’s inner circle and has been the custodian of the Supreme Leader’s financial interests as head of funds and state asset management organizations.
Infighting, intrigue and background following Raisi’s death
He may not make the important decisions because the supreme religious leader, Khamenei, does. But he is the one who implements these decisions and is essentially the scapegoat for unpopular decisions.
It is noted that the name of Khamenei’s son sounded for Khamenei’s own position, for supreme religious leader, because he really sounded like Khamenei’s successor.
In Iran, preparations are being made for this eventuality, because he is 85 years old, his health condition is not good.
But there are those within the conservatives in Iran who do not want him because they consider that putting the son of the current supreme leader in line with the principles of the Islamic revolution.
Source: ertnews
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