19 May 2024, 10:40 PM | Updated: May 20, 2024, 4:49 p. m.
In this photo released through the Iranian Presidential Office, President Ebrahim Raisi attends an assembly on the Iran-Azerbaijan border Sunday, May 19, 2024. Raisi, a hardline protégé of the country’s ideal leader, was killed in a helicopter crash on Monday. May 20, 2024, according to state media. (Photo: AP Iranian Presidential Office)
(Photo: AP Iranian Presidential Office)
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the country’s foreign minister were found dead Monday hours after their helicopter crashed in fog, leaving the Islamic Republic without two key leaders as ordinary tensions grieve across the Middle East.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in the Shiite theocracy, temporarily appointed a little-known vice president as interim vice president and insisted that the government be in charge, but the deaths are another blow to a country plagued by internal pressures. and abroad.
Iran has stated any cause of the crash or said sabotage caused the helicopter to crash into mountainous terrain amid sudden, heavy fog.
In the Iranian capital, Tehran, department stores were open and young people were going to school on Monday. However, there was a notable presence of uniformed and plainclothes security forces in the city centre.
The twist of fate comes as the war between Israel and Hamas rocks the region. Iranian-subsidized Hamas carried out the attack that sparked the conflict, and Hezbollah, also subsidized through Tehran, fired rockets into Israel. Last month, Iran introduced its own unprecedented attack. Drone and missile attack on Israel.
Raisi, a hardliner who once headed the country’s judiciary, was considered a protégé of Khamenei. During his tenure, relations with the West also continued to deteriorate, as Iran enriched uranium more than ever to weapons-grade levels and provided bomb-carrying drones to Russia. because of its war in Ukraine.
It has also faced years of mass protests against the ailing economy and women’s rights, making the moment even more sensitive.
The crash killed the other eight people aboard a Bell helicopter, bought through Iran in the early 2000s, according to the official IRNA news agency. Among the dead were Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, a senior cleric from Tabriz, a Revolutionary Guard officer and three members of the team, IRNA reported.
Iran has been employing many Bell helicopters since the time of the Shah. But Iranian jets are facing a shortage of spare components, in part because of Western sanctions, and are flying without protective checks. In this context, former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday tried to shift the blame for the turn of fate onto the United States.
“One of the main culprits for yesterday’s tragedy is the United States, which . . . it has imposed an embargo on the sale of aircraft and spare parts to Iran and does not allow other Iranians to take advantage of smart aviation facilities,” Zarif said. “These will be included in the list of U. S. crimes against the other Iranians. “
State television gave no immediate reason for the turn of fate in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. Images released via IRNA on Monday morning show what the company described as the crash site, across a steep valley into a verdant mountain range.
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The U. S. has yet to publicly comment on Raisi’s death. Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s nuclear negotiator, will serve as the country’s acting foreign minister, state television said.
Condolences from neighbors and allies came after Iran proved there were no survivors of the crash. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on social media platform X that his country “stands with Iran in this time of sadness. “Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a statement released through the Kremlin, described Raisi “as a true friend of Russia. “
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Syrian President Bashar Assad also offered their condolences. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said he and his government were “deeply shocked. “Raisi, 63, was returning Sunday from Iran’s border with Azerbaijan, where he had opened a roadblock with Aliyev, when the twist of fate occurred.
The death also led to the deaths of Iranians, and Khamenei declared five days of public mourning. But many have been crushed by the collapse of the country’s currency, the rial, and by considerations that regional conflicts are getting out of hand with Israel or even Pakistan, with which Iran also has problems. fireplace swapped this year.
“He tried to carry out his tasks well, but I don’t think he was as successful as before,” said Mahrooz Mohammadi Zadeh, 53, of Tehran. “He did his duties, I’m not saying he didn’t, but he was a little weak. “
Khamenei under pressure that the Iranian government’s affairs would continue no matter what; however, Raisi’s death raised the specter of what would happen after the resignation or death of the ideal 85-year-old leader. The final word on all matters of state is to go to his post and only two men have held office since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Raisi had been mentioned as one of the possible candidates for the job. The only other user reported so far is Mojtaba, Khamenei’s 55-year-old son. However, some have expressed fear that the position will be given to a member of the family circle. , especially after the revolution overthrew the Shah’s hereditary Pahlavi monarchy.
For now, Khamenei has appointed First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber as his deputy, in accordance with the constitution, which stipulates that new presidential elections must be held within 50 days.
Mokhber had already begun receiving calls from governments and foreigners in Raisi’s absence, state media reported.
An emergency meeting of Iran’s Cabinet was held, as state media reported on Monday morning. The Cabinet then promised that it would follow Raisi’s path and that “with the help of God and the people, there will be no disorders in control. “of the country. “
Raisi won Iran’s 2021 presidential election, an election that had the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history. He was sanctioned by the U. S. in part for his role in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988, at the end of bloody Iran. -Iraq War.
Under Raisi, Iran is now enriching uranium to grades close to those of weapons production and obstructing foreign inspections. Iran has armed Russia in its war against Ukraine and introduced a major drone and missile attack on Israel as a component of its war against Hamas. It has also continued to assemble proxy teams in the Middle East, such as the Houthi rebels in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, mass protests have been sweeping the country for years. The most recent was the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who in the past had been arrested for wearing a headscarf or hijab, which was allegedly cowardly. The security crackdown that followed the protests killed more than 500 people and led to the arrest of more than 22,000.
In March, a United Nations commission of inquiry concluded that Iran was guilty of the “physical violence” that led to Amini’s death.
Raisi is the Iranian president who will die in office. In 1981, a bomb blast killed President Mohammad Ali Rajai in the chaotic days following the Islamic Revolution.