DUBAI (Reuters) -Hopes are fading that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister have survived a helicopter crash in mountainous terrain and icy weather, an Iranian official said on Monday after search teams located the wreckage. "President Raisi's helicopter was completely burned in...
(Reuters) -Hopes are fading that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister have survived a helicopter crash in mountainous terrain and icy weather, an Iranian official said on Monday after search teams located the wreckage. "President Raisi's helicopter was completely burned in the crash ... unfortunately, all
passengers are feared dead," the official told Reuters.
Possibly, but it's the president not the supreme leader. The President is the "Head of Government", but the Supreme Leader is Head of State so who knows how much this will actually shake things up
Probably not at all. I'm no expert on Iran, but I'm pretty sure I've never heard about the president of Iran on the news at all. Ayatollah Khamenei, on the other hand, plenty of times.
Can you elaborate on why this would be destabilizing? I mean obviously the president dying is bad, but are there specific groups that are in positions to do anything to cause problems due to this? Wouldn't there be someone under him in the chain of command or another election that could be held?
I do not know very much about Iran's internal politics beyond a basic synopsis, I'm just looking for some info.
Depends on the circumstances of why the helicopter crashed. If it was an accident, some maintenance issue, pilot error or medical emergency or something, then it won't be too bad.
If there's some evidence of sabotage or a deliberate attack then hold onto your hat because prime suspect #1 is going to be the Mossad.
Unlikely as it may sound, it’s not the first time Mossad has claimed to have undertaken such an operation. In fact, this is the third such case in the last eighteen months. In April 2022, Israeli media reported on an alleged Mossad operation on Iranian territory. Israeli intelligence agents had reportedly detained and questioned Mansour Rasouly, a fifty-two-year-old IRGC agent, in his residence in Iran, where he had confessed to a plan to assassinate an Israeli diplomat in Turkey, an American general stationed in Germany, and a journalist in France. The Israeli media published an audio file of Rasouly’s confession without revealing their source.
Months later, in July 2022, London-based diaspora satellite channel Iran International claimed that Mossad had interrogated another IRGC official, Yadollah Khedmati, in Iran, publishing the footage of his confessions about the transfer of weaponry to Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen.