DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran President Ebrahim Raisi The Islamic Republic was found dead on Monday, hours after a helicopter crashed in the fog, as the country’s foreign minister and two key leaders died amid extraordinary tensions across the Middle East. Lost.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, who has the final say in the Shiite theocracy, immediately appointed an unnamed vice president as interim president and insisted that the government was in control, but this death is a serious threat both domestically and in both countries. This was a further blow to the country, which is already under pressure. And overseas.
Iran has not disclosed the cause of the crash, nor has it suggested that sabotage was the reason the helicopter suddenly crashed in a mountainous area in heavy fog.
Businesses were open and children went to school in Iran’s capital Tehran on Monday. However, the presence of uniformed and plainclothes security forces was noticeable.
Later that day, hundreds of mourners swarmed downtown’s Valli-e-Azr Square, holding up posters of Mr. Raisi and waving Palestinian flags. Several men clutched their rosaries and were visibly crying. Women wearing black chadors gathered carrying pictures of their fallen leaders.
Mohammad Beheshti, 36, said he was “shocked by the loss of such a man who gave Iran pride and humiliated its enemies.”
The crash occurs as follows israel-hamas war disrupt the area. Iran-backed Hamas led the attack that started the conflict, and Tehran-backed Hezbollah also fired rockets at Israel.Last month, Iran launched its own service Unprecedented drone and missile attack About Israel.
a A hardliner who once led this country’s judicial community., Raisi, 63, was considered a disciple of Ayatollah Khamenei. During his tenure, relations with the West continued to deteriorate as Iran enriched uranium ever closer to weapons-grade levels and supplied bomb-laden drones to Iran. Russia against the Ukraine war.
His government has also faced years of difficulties. large-scale protests This moment has become more sensitive over the struggling economy and women’s rights.
The crash killed all eight people on board the Bell helicopter, which Iran purchased in the early 2000s, state news agency IRNA said.Iranians were among the dead Foreign Minister Hossein AmirabdollahianAccording to IRNA, the expedition was attended by the Iranian governor of East Azerbaijan province, a senior cleric from Tabriz, an IRGC official, and three crew members.
Iran has been flying Bell helicopters extensively since the time of the Shah. But Iranian planes face parts shortages due to Western sanctions and often fly without safety inspections. Against this backdrop, former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif claimed that the United States was responsible for the crash.
Foreign Minister Zarif said in an interview that “one of the main culprits in yesterday’s tragedy is the United States. The United States… has embargoed the sale of aircraft and aviation parts to Iran and does not allow Iranian citizens to enjoy good aviation facilities. ” he said.
Ali Baez, Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, said that while U.S. sanctions have deprived Iran of the ability to upgrade and repair its fleet for decades, “human error and weather conditions in this particular incident were We cannot overlook their role.” ‘
Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst and consultant, said Iran likely obtains parts for aircraft maintenance from the black market, but has no maintenance techniques to keep Iran’s older helicopters flying safely. I doubted whether there was.
“Helicopters that are half a century old are fine if they are well maintained. But black market parts and local maintenance capabilities are not a good combination,” he says.
State television did not reveal the immediate cause. the collision that occurred It is located in East Azerbaijan province of Iran. Footage released by IRNA early Monday showed what the agency said was the crash site across a steep valley in the Green Mountains.
The United States has not yet publicly commented on Raisi’s death. Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani will serve as the country’s acting foreign minister, state television said.
condolences poured After Iran confirmed there were no survivors, calls were received from neighboring countries and allies. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on social media platform X that India “supports Iran in this time of sorrow.” Russian President Vladimir Putin called Raisi a “true friend of Russia” in a statement released by the Kremlin.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad also expressed their condolences. Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said his country and his government were “deeply shocked.” Raisi had returned from the Iran-Azerbaijan border on Sunday, where he and Aliyev were working on a dam installation when the accident occurred.
The death shocked Iranians, with Ayatollah Khamenei declaring five days of public mourning. But many have been shattered by the collapse of the country’s real currency, leading to fears that regional conflicts could spiral out of control with Israel and even Pakistan, which has engaged in a shootout with Iran this year. .
“He tried to do his job well, but I don’t think he was as successful as he should have been,” said Mahrouz Mohammadi Zadeh, 53, a resident of Tehran. “He fulfilled his duty. I’m not saying he wasn’t, but he was a little weak.”
Although Khamenei has stressed that Iranian government operations will continue no matter what, Raisi’s death has heightened fears of what will happen after the 85-year-old supreme leader steps down or dies. His office has the final say on all matters of state, and only two people have held the position since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Raisi was being discussed as a candidate. The only other person suggested so far is Khamenei’s 55-year-old son Mojtaba. But some have expressed concerns about the position passing to a member of his family, especially after the revolution overthrew the shah’s hereditary Pahlavi monarchy.
For now, Khamenei has appointed First Vice President Mohammad Mokbel as interim president, in accordance with the constitution, which stipulates that new presidential elections should be held within 50 days.
State media said Mokbel had already received calls from officials and foreign governments during Raisi’s absence.
An emergency meeting of Iran’s cabinet was held as state media announced Monday morning. The Cabinet issued a statement pledging to follow Mr. Raisi’s path and “with the help of God and the people, there will be no problem in running the country.”
Raishi won the 2021 Iranian presidential election, in a vote with the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history. He was sanctioned by the United States for his role in the execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988, following the end of the bloody Iran-Iraq war.
Under Raisi, Iran is now enriching uranium to near weapons-grade levels, impeding international inspections. Iran has armed Russia in its war against Ukraine and launched massive drone and missile attacks against Israel during its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It also continues to supply weapons to proxy groups in the Middle East, including Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
Large-scale protests have been escalating in the country for years. The most recent was related to a death in 2022. Masa Amini Women detained wearing loose scarves or hijabs. The months-long security crackdown that followed the demonstrations left more than 500 people dead and more than 22,000 detained.
In March, a United Nations commission of inquiry found Iran responsible for the “physical violence” that led to Amini’s death.
Raisi is the second Iranian president to die while in office. In 1981, amidst the chaos following the Islamic Revolution, President Mohammad Ali Rajai was killed in a bomb attack.
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Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, Paul Wiseman in Washington, and AP Aviation Writer David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report.