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Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi dies in a helicopter crash. For now, Mohammed Mochber is stepping in as deputy. New elections are coming soon.
Tehran – More than half a day passed before fear became certainty. The crash of the Iranian presidential helicopter on Sunday claimed the lives of all nine occupants, including Prime Minister Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hussein Amirabdollahian. Dense fog made the search for rescue workers and several drones much more difficult and may have been the cause of the accident.
After the first reports of an accident or a “hard landing” there was still hope that everything could have ended smoothly, Raisi, who has been in office since August 2021, is now being mourned as a martyr in the Iranian media. His final act for the country was the inauguration of a dam in the northwestern province of East Azerbaijan. As footage shows, the president met with Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev.
Iran mourns President Raisi: Cabinet speaks of sacrifice for the nation and martyrdom
On the return journey, the plane had an accident, while the other two helicopters from the fleet returned safely with other ministers on board. In a first statement, the Iranian cabinet remembered the “hardworking and tireless President of Iran, who did nothing other than serve the great people of Iran on the path to the progress and development of the country.”
He kept his promise and “sacrificed his life for the nation”. Here too there is talk of a “martyr’s death”. It also promises that the chosen path will be continued and that “there will be no errors in the management of the country’s affairs.”
Appropriately quoted the state news agency Irna the religious leader Ayatollah Ali Chamanei, whose successor Raisi was considered, with the promise: “The people of Iran should not worry, there will be no disruptions in the work of the country.” However, these sentences came from the hours when the president was officially missing.
Iran after the death of Raisi: Vice President Mochber takes over – an election must be held within 50 days
For the time being, Mohammad Mochber, the first vice president, will take over the reins of government according to protocol. He had already called an emergency meeting on Sunday evening, and another special meeting under his leadership followed on Monday morning. Time is running out. The constitution stipulates that new elections must take place within 50 days. So – starting from the day of the crash – July 8th at the latest.
Observers now expect a power struggle in which hardliners who could judge Raisi’s presidency as too weak could also get involved. This is how Iran expert Arash Azizi sees it, in an analysis for the US magazine The Atlantic before the burnt-out presidential helicopter was found, wrote: “The death of Raisi would change the balance of power between factions within the Islamic Republic.”
However, the late president also stood for an extremely conservative course. Fall within his term of office the nationwide protests as a result of the death of Mahsa Amini, which showed the whole world how ruthlessly Raisi monitored compliance with the headscarf requirement. During his time as a public prosecutor, he had already earned the nickname “Butcher of Tehran” and was considered an advocate of the death penalty.
How will Iran change without Raisi? “The fundamentals of this policy will remain the same”
Meanwhile, Jason Brodsky doesn’t expect any major change in Iran’s course. Loud The Times of Israel said the political director of the non-profit organization United Against Nuclear Iran: “The president of the Islamic Republic implements, he is not a decision maker. So the policy of the Islamic Republic, the foundations of that policy, will remain the same.”
Ori Goldberg from Reichman University in Tel Aviv also has his say in the same article. According to the lecturer who specializes in modern Iran, Raisi only works for Khamenei and his presidency was questionable anyway: “He was elected in the least democratic elections the Islamic Republic has ever had.”
Goldberg now faces a test for the powerful religious leader. Because he not only has to support the country, but also his leadership role through the transition period.
Is there unrest in Iran? Political weakness could invite further attacks
While there were fears, especially in the West and in Jerusalem, that Tehran could become more obviously involved in the Middle East war as it lasted and use the situation in the region even more for its own purposes, it is now expected that Iran will initially be tied up with domestic political issues .
The risk of further attacks in the country cannot be dismissed if the current leadership shows weakness. Reference is made to the bloody deeds of the past few months, above all the bombings on January 3rd, the fourth anniversary of the death of General Qasem Soleimani, in which almost 100 mourners were killed.
While Tehran from all over the world – for example from the EU – expressions of condolence reach the country is facing an uncertain future. It’s not just the more than 80 million people in Iran who will be following further developments with excitement. (mg)
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