Iran’s hardline President Ebrahim Raisi, who had been touted as a possible successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who is 85 years old, unfortunately passed away in a helicopter crash in northwest Iran on Sunday.
On Monday Iranian Red Crescent stated that search and rescue crews did not find any survivors at the crash site. The charred remains of Raisi’s helicopter were found in the foggy forests near the Dizmar forest near the border with Azerbaijan. The only surviving part of the helicopter was its tail.
Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the head of the presidential guard Mehdi Mousavi, East Azerbaijan Governor Malek Rahmati, Representative of the Iranian Supreme Leader in East Azerbaijan Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem and the helicopter’s pilot and crew were on board and are presumed dead.
Raisi, 63, was a conservative cleric and former judiciary chief known for his crackdowns on those seeking greater freedoms and democracy in Iran. He was implicated in the murder of thousands of political prisoners in the late 1980s and supervised the suppression of anti-regime demonstrations in 2019-2020 as head of the judiciary.
Raisi oversaw harsh repression of the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini with tens of thousands of arrests and over 500 deaths reported.
Bad weather hindered aerial searches and the operation was extended onto the ground using special forces, dog teams, and drones on Sunday. Turkey and the EU provided high-tech equipment to help in the search operations.
Raisi had been returning from a visit to the Azerbaijan border where he met with President Ilham Aliyev and inaugurated a major dam project.
Raisi’s allegiance to the government had raised rumours that he could become Khamenei’s successor. Although the president was elected at the end of 2021 amidst opposition disqualification and low voter turnout.
The death of Raisi fuels rumors that Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, is the leading candidate to replace his father. Raisi was a more fervent but less effective manifestation of Iranian revolutionary elites, according to Behnam Ben Taleblu of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
But before Raisi’s death was announced, Khamenei demanded the nation to pray for an absent president and said there will be no interference with the administration.
In the meantime, Mohammad Mokhber will perform the duties of Raisi. Mokhber is a former head of Setad, a critical institution supporting Khamenei’s authority.
The aggressive foreign policy of Iran has brought Iran closer to the Western World during the Gaza conflict between Israel and Hamas. Iran has also been supporting Russia and carrying out drone strikes on Israel. Hamas condemned the death of Raisi and expressed solidarity with Iran.
In Yemen, Iran’s proxies, the Houthis, have been attacking international shipping lanes; Hezbollah is still launching rockets across southern Lebanon into Israel.