Iran’s president and foreign minister die in helicopter crash

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, along with the country’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and several other individuals were discovered dead on Monday morning, several hours after their chopper crashed in thick fog in a hilly area of the country’s northwest.

The disaster occurs during a highly turbulent period for the Middle East due to the Israel-Hamas conflict. Just last month, Raisi, acting on behalf of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, conducted an unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel. Under Raisi, Iran has brought uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels, intensifying tensions with the West. Tehran has also continued arming proxy groups in the Middle East, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthi rebels in Yemen. It has supplied Russia with drones equipped with bombs for its war in Ukraine.

Raisi came to prominence as a result of years of large-scale demonstrations against the country’s failing economy and women’s rights, as well as against Iran’s dominant Shiite Muslim theocracy, of which he was a crucial part.

All of those considerations increased the significance of the event for Tehran and the nation’s future. Still, the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, promptly reassured Iranians that things would continue as they always have.

The president of the Islamic Republic and all other officials answer to Khamenei, the 85-year-old leader of the nation who has reigned since 1989 under the form of government in place.

The vice president takes over Raisi’s responsibilities as an interim leader until new elections, which must be held within 50 days, following Iran’s constitution. The constitution has been in effect since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which installed the governing Islamic clerics. However, since only those endorsed by the governing clergy are eligible to run, there is little prospect that Iran’s politics or policies will significantly alter.

In a statement released by state media on Monday morning, Khamenei expressed his sympathy for Raisi. He also declared five days of mourning and affirmed that Vice President Muhammad Mokhber would assume the position until elections were held.