Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash. The helicopter that Reisi was on crashed in the mountainous region of East Azerbaijan province due to adverse weather conditions. Iranian officials confirmed that the Chief and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the helicopter, Hossein Emir Abdullahian, died in the accident. The wreckage could not be found for a long time, but the Turkish Akıncı TİHA provided significant support to the Iranian search teams in locating the wreckage.
AzerbaijanIn the helicopter taking off from Iran, President Ibrahim Reisi, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hussein Emir Abdullahiyan, Tabriz Friday Imam Ayatollah Ali Hashim and East Azerbaijan State Governor Malik Rahmeti was located. The helicopter crashed in the mountainous terrain of East Azerbaijan province. Chief had gone to the region for the joint dam opening.
Iranian officials announced that President Ibrahim Reisi and Foreign Minister Hussein Emir Abdullahian, who were on the helicopter, lost their lives.
Following the death of the Chief, five days of mourning were declared in Iran. Chief’s funeral will be held tomorrow and cultural activities in the country have been canceled for the next seven days. Muhammed Muhbir, who was serving as Vice President, was appointed as acting president; Bagheri Kani, who was the deputy foreign minister, became the foreign minister. Country leaders shared condolence messages. Iranian-backed groups Hezbollah, Hamas and Houthis also expressed their condolences to the Iranian people.
The Cause of the Crash Has Been Revealed
It was learned that the helicopter was an American-made Bell 212 model. Iranian state media, accident dense fog announced why. Iranian Chief of General Staff Mohammed Baqeri mobilized both the army and the revolutionary guards.
Search and Rescue Efforts
Search and rescue teams have been trying to reach the scene of the accident for hours. The work continued despite the dark weather and difficult weather conditions. In addition to foggy weather, snowfall was also effective in the region.
“Contact Established with 2 People”
In the following hours, Iranian Vice President Mohsin Mansouri said, “We contacted and talked with those in the helicopter several times; “We are searching within a 2-kilometer area,” he said. It was stated that one of the people contacted was a passenger and the other was a crew member.
Support for Calls from Turkey
Upon Iran’s request, Türkiye carried out search operations. Akinci TİHA and sent a Cougar type helicopter with night vision capabilities. After starting its mission in the mountainous region, Akıncı TİHA detected a heat source that was thought to be the helicopter wreckage. The coordinates of this region were conveyed to the Iranian authorities.
The Iranian administration sent dozens of search teams to the region. The teams had difficulty reaching the helicopter wreckage due to difficult weather and geographical conditions. Authorities found the helicopter wreckage completely burned. Iranian officials announced that President Ibrahim Reisi and Foreign Minister Hussein Emir Abdullahiyan died in a helicopter crash. Chief and his accompanying delegation were returning from the dam opening they attended in Azerbaijan.
First Vice President to Take Over Duty Temporarily
In the event of the death of the president, if the president cannot be elected in accordance with Article 131 of the Iranian Constitution, the first vice president appointed by the country’s leader (Ali Khamenei) will temporarily take over the powers and responsibilities of the president.
A board consisting of the speaker of the parliament, the head of the judiciary and the first vice president, that is, the heads of the legislature, executive and judiciary, is responsible for organizing the process for the election of a new president within a maximum of 50 days.
Who is Iranian President Ibrahim Reisi?
Iranian President Ibrahim Reisi was born on December 14, 1960 in the city of Mashhad and was known as a jurist and clergyman. After the revolution in 1979, he started his career as the Kerech Prosecutor and quickly rose to the position of Deputy Chief Prosecutor of Tehran.
In 1988, he took part in the committee that decided to execute regime opponents upon the instructions of Iranian revolutionary leader Khomeini. After Khomeini’s death, he rose in state positions during the Ali Khamenei period and served as Chief Prosecutor of Tehran between 1989 and 1994. He was appointed President of the State Audit Institution in 1994 and served in this position for 10 years.
In 2004, he was appointed First Deputy President of the Judiciary, an important position. In 2014, he became the Prosecutor General of Iran, and in 2016 he was appointed President of the Imam Reza Shrine and Complex Foundation in the city of Mashhad.
He ran for president in 2017 but lost the election. He was appointed Head of the Judicial Power in 2019 and took up this position in March 2019.
He became the 8th President of Iran by receiving 62 percent of the votes in the elections on June 18, 2021. During Reisi’s presidency, a foreign policy focusing especially on relations with neighbors was followed, and relations with Saudi Arabia were re-established during this period.
What Awaits Iran After the Death of President Ibrahim Reisi?
Ibrahim Reisi was located close to the center of power in the Islamic Republic and expectations were that he would rise to the highest level. However, life presented him with an unexpected twist. His death in a helicopter crash on Sunday brought about increased speculation about who would replace 85-year-old religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has long had concerns about his health.
However, the tragic death of the Chief, who is known for his harsh policies in Iran, is not expected to significantly change the direction of Iranian politics or deeply shake the Islamic Republic. In this regard, Khamenei stated in a post on the X platform before the death of the Leader was officially confirmed that “the Iranian people should not worry” and “there will be no disruptions”. But the president’s death could test the limits of a system in which politicians espousing conservative and hard-line policies now dominate all branches of power, both elected and unelected.
Dr. D., director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House. According to Sanam Vakil, “The system will hold a grand ceremony for the death of the Chieftain and adhere to constitutional procedures, while searching for a new candidate who can preserve the unity of the conservatives and loyalty to Khamenei.”
Raisi’s opponents, on the other hand, will hail the departure of the former prosecutor, who has denied playing a decisive role in the mass executions of political prisoners in the 1980s, and hope that the end of his rule will hasten the end of this regime.
For the Iranian government, the Chief’s funeral will be considered an emotional event as well as an opportunity to send signals of continuity. Because they know that the eyes of the world are on Iran.
“For nearly 40 years, the West assumed that Iran would collapse and disintegrate,” Professor Mohammed Marandi from Tehran University told the BBC. “But miraculously it is still here and I predict it will be here for years to come.”
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