Iran president Ebrahim Raisi death: Israel denies involvement in helicopter crash

Russian president Vladimir Putin has phoned Iran's new interim president, making clear his desire to preserve and build on Moscow's deepening relationship with Tehran.

The Kremlin said Putin expressed his condolences to interim president Mohammad Mokhber and to the whole Iranian people over Ebrahim Raisi's death, describing the late leader as a "reliable partner who made an invaluable personal contribution" to bilateral relations.

"Both sides emphasised their mutual desire to further consistently strengthen comprehensive Russian-Iranian interaction for the benefit of the peoples of the two countries," the Kremlin said in its readout of the Putin-Mokhber call.

State news agency RIA quoted Sergei Shoigu, secretary of Russia's Security Council, as saying Moscow could assist Iran in its investigation of the crash.

Since the state of the war in Ukraine, Russia has moved to strengthen its political, trade and military ties with Iran in a deepening relationship that the United States and Israel view with concern.

Iran's cabinet has met for the first time since the death of Ebrahim Raisi, with the country's new interim head insisting business will carry on as usual.

"This is a serious incident for all of us, it is sad and upsetting, but in the interests of the country and our people, we won't have any disruption," said first vice president Mohammad Mokhber.

"The country will continue moving forward under this leadership. Everyone should continue on with their roles despite this incident. In no way will this tragic incident interfere with the government and running of our country."

The 68-year-old Mokhber with the speaker of parliament and the head of the judiciary now has 50 days to organise the election of a new president.

Mokhber, like Raisi, is seen as close to supreme leade Khamenei, who has the last say in all matters of state. Mokhber became first vice president in 2021 when Raisi was elected president.

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi's death has upset the plans of hardliners who wanted him to succeed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, insiders say.

They add that it will stir rivalries in their camp over who will take over the Islamic Republic when Khamenei dies.

A protege of Khamenei who rose through the ranks of Iran's theocracy, Raisi, 63, was widely seen as a leading candidate to take over from the 85-year-old supreme leader – though it was far from being a foregone conclusion in Iran's opaque politics.

His rise to the presidency was part of a consolidation of power in the hands of hardliners dedicated to shoring up the pillars of the Islamic republic against the risks posed by dissent at home and powerful enemies in a turbulent region.

Raisi had enjoyed staunch backing from Khamenei, who had himself held the position of president before he became Supreme Leader in 1989.

Raisi, backed by a group that wanted to see him become Supreme Leader, clearly wanted the role, said Vali Nasr, professor of Middle East Studies and International Affairs at John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

"Now they don't have a candidate, and that opens the door for other factions or other figures to emerge as serious contenders," he said.

For Raisi, a mid-ranking Site cleric, the presidency had been a vehicle to reach the supreme leadership. "There's no other candidate right now (with) that kind of a platform and that's why the presidential elections in Iran, however they unfold, will be the first decider about what comes next," Nasr added.

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, 63, has died after his helicopter crashed in a remote area of the country on Sunday, the Iranian government confirmed Monday. In a country with a cleric-led government where the supreme leader has the final say, Raisi wasn’t the highest ranked official, but the highest elected official.

Raisi was a conservative hardliner elected in 2021 and was viewed as a protege of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Raisi’s government faced mass protests over the suffering economy and women’s rights. Relations between Iran and the West have also worsened during his tenure, with the country accelerating its nuclear enrichment program to weapons-grade levels.

Read the full story from Yahoo News.

The death of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi has sparked differing reactions in Iran.

While the Islamic Republic's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, announced five days of public mourning following the sudden death of Mr Raisi, 63, opponents of the regime have been celebrating with fireworks.

On social media, activists such as Masih Alinejad - an Iranian-American author and women's rights campaigner who lives in New York City - are posting in jubilation at the demise of Mr Raisi.

Read the full story from Sky News here

Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan has expressed his condolences following the death of his Iranian counterpart.

During a speech in Turkey's capital of Ankara, he said: "I wish God's mercy to the late Raisi and the Iranian foreign minister and other officials who lost their lives in the accident.

"I would like to express the deep sorrow we feel for this tragic accident. On behalf of myself, my country, and my nation, I offer my condolences to the Iranian people.

"After hearing the news of the accident, we immediately contacted the Iranian authorities and stated that we were ready to contribute to the search and rescue efforts with all our resources.

"We sent Akinci drone and a Cougar-type helicopter with night vision capability to the region. Our search and rescue teams also immediately departed for the region to help our Iranian brothers."

Security minister Tom Tugendhat is significantly less sympathetic than European Council president Charles Michel following the death of Ebrahim Raisi.

The price of gold hit a record high Monday as the shock death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash boosted support for the precious metal seen as a haven investment.

Copper also struck an all-time peak and silver jumped to the highest level in more than 11 years — with markets generally gaining from a brighter economic outlook.

Gold had already hit a series of record highs this year.

Read the full story from AFP here

Here is a guide to how Iran's somewhat convoluted political structure works, and who holds the most power within it.

At the very top is the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the guardian jurist. He is head of state, and has significant power as a religious cleric, "under " theory that political authority springs from religious authority", according to the Council on Foreign Relations think tank.

His roles, as set out by Iran's constitution, include setting national policies and supervising their implementation, commanding the armed forces, and appointing military chiefs and the heads of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and police.

The Supreme Leader is elected by the Assembly of Experts, a body of 88 directly elected jurists. They are tasked with overseeing the Supreme Leader, but they fulfil this role in secret, and it is "unclear whether they have sought to meaningfully check" Khamenei or his predecessor, Ruhollah Khomeini.

Answering to the supreme leader is the president, who serves as head of government. Elected to a maximum of two four-year terms, the president is charged with executing the country’s laws and setting policy within parameters set by the supreme leader.

The parliament, or majlis, has 290 seats. Its members are directly elected to four-year terms by geographic district, with five seats set aside for religious minorities.

Another body, the Guardian Council, is charged with determining whether laws it passes are permissible under the constitution and Islamic precepts. Half of the council’s 12 members are theologians appointed by the supreme leader; while the rest are legal scholars selected by the parliament.

The Expediency Council, established in 1988 to mediate between the parliament and Guardian Council, is another way the supreme leader can exercise authority, as he appoints its members to five-year terms.

The Supreme National Security Council is led by the president and includes the parliamentary speaker, the heads of all three branches of government, military chiefs and the ministers of state, foreign affairs, and intelligence, as well as two personal representatives of the supreme leader. It is charged with setting a wide range of policies that touch on defence and security, responding to threats both foreign and domestic.

Activists in Iran have said there is little mood to mourn the death of the country’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash near the border with Azerbaijan on Sunday.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, announced a five-day public mourning period after the deaths of Raisi, the foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other passengers on the helicopter.

However, Iranians who spoke to the Guardian have refused to lament the death of a man who they say was responsible for hundreds of deaths in his four-decade political career.

Read the full story from the Guardian here

Five days of mourning may have been declared by Tehran, but not all Iranians have been left distraught by the death of Ebrahim Raisi.

"Why should I hide my feelings while many young Iranians, especially women who have been wounded during uprisings, are sharing videos of dancing in joy over his death?," tweeted Iranian-American journalist and author Masih Alinejad.

"His regime sent killers to New York to assassinate me, but I am alive and writing about his death."

Alinejad said Iranians would continue to fight for "freedom, democracy and dignity" until Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his "religious dictatorship" are overthrown.

Meanwhile footage shared by dissident news network Iran International shows people celebrating Raisi's death outside the Iranian embassy in London.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has expressed 'sadness' and 'regret' over the death of Ebrahim Raisi.

In a statement read out on Iranian state TV, he said the Islamic Republic had "lost a sincere and valuable servant".

"May God bless him and grant him peace. This unfortunate incident happened during his time in service of the nation," he said.

"Raisi was a noble person who, both during and before his short presidency, put his non-stop efforts in the service of the people, the country, and Islam.

"In this tragic incident, the Iranian nation lost a sincere and valuable servant. For him, the welfare and satisfaction of the people was put over everything and the ingratitude of some ill-wishers did not prevent him from working day and night to improve current affairs."

The supreme leader of Iran holds final religious and political authority over all affairs of the state. He is technically at the very top of the Iranian power structure.

Answering to the supreme leader is the president, who serves as head of government, whose decisions the Ayatollah has a final say over.

Ireland's deputy premier Micheal Martin has expressed his condolences following the helicopter crash that killed Iran's president Ebrahim Raisi.

The Tanaiste has been holding meetings in Lebanon as he seeks to bring the killers of Irish UN peacekeeper Private Sean Rooney to justice.

Martin said that it is a “very sad day” following the death of Raisi, who was killed alongside foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and several other officials.

Speaking before confirmation of their deaths, Mr Martin said: “I am aware of the reports in respect of both the Iranian president and the foreign minister. I have spoken to foreign minister Hossein on quite a number of occasions.

“It is deeply concerning and we don’t yet have full confirmation but obviously our thoughts and our prayers are with the families involved in terms of potential fatalities. It is a very sad day when a situation like this occurs.”

Janez Lenarcic appears to have responded to criticism over a tweet in which he expressed "solidarity" between the European Union and Iran.

The EU's commissioner previously said he'd responded to a request for Iran for help following the helicopter crash that killed Ebrahim Raisi.

Posting on X this morning, he had this to say:

A European Union offer to find the helicopter that crashed killing the Iranian president was overshadowed by a row after a commissioner tweeted “#EUSolidarity” with Iran.

Janez Lenarcic, the EU’s crisis commissioner, said the bloc was using its Copernicus emergency satellite mapping service to track down the aircraft, which was carrying Ebrahim Raisi.

The helicopter crashed on Sunday over mountainous terrain in heavy fog, beginning a large-scale search that lasted more than 12 hours until the wreckage was found on Monday morning.

Read the full story from the Telegraph here

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi has died after the helicopter he and other officials were in crashed during bad weather in a mountainous and forested region of the country.

The 63-year-old, who served as a representative of hardline and conservative political groups in Iran for almost three years, was set to seek re-election next year.

According to media sources, Raisi was on his way back to Tehran after meeting President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan. But who was he and who will replace him?

Read the full story from the Evening Standard here

The death of Ebrahim Raisi "represents a monumental and irreparable strategic blow" to the entire Iranian regime, the country's exiled political opposition has said.

In a statement, Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said the incident would trigger a "series of repercussions and crises" which will "spur rebellious youths into action".

Writing on X, Rajavi added: "The curse of mothers and those seeking justice for the executed, along with the damnation of the Iranian people and history, mark the legacy of Ebrahim Raisi, the notorious perpetrator of the #1988Massacre of political prisoners.

"While honouring the 30,000 PMOI members and other combatants who were massacred—and forever remembered by the Iranian people, I emphasize that the pursuit of justice will persist until the regime’s overthrow.

"The destiny of all those who have executed and continue to execute Iran’s sons and daughters serves as a lesson to be learned."

The NCRI is the political wing of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK), a resistance group founded by leftist students in 1965,

The group helped Islamists overthrow the Western-backed Shah in 1979, but broke violently with the clerics shortly after the revolution and were forced into exile in France in 1981, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

It did not take long for the first accusations of foul play to appear on Iranian state television following the announcement that Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s president, had died in a helicopter crash.

Most reports, for now, focus on the poor, foggy conditions the craft was flying near the border between Iran and Azerbaijan, as well as the ageing nature of Iran’s fleet.

There have not been formal claims that the helicopter was tampered with on the ground or during its flight. In his first comments on Monday morning with regards to the incident, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, called the crash an “unfortunate incident” and stopped short of suggesting foul play or blaming Israel.

Read the full story from the Telegraph here

A team of rescuers have been pictured carrying a body bag and assessing the scene of Sunday's crash in Varzaqan in Iran's East Azerbaijan Province.

Iranian state media said president Ebrahim Raisi was on his way back from a visit in Azerbaijan when one of the helicopters in his convoy was forced to make a "hard landing" due to poor weather and fog.

Interior minister Ahmed Vahidi told state TV that the region is rugged and that it's difficult to make contact there.

This is a delicate time for Iran. President Raisi was the second most important man in Iran, after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

His death, now confirmed, will have far-reaching consequences.

Although Khamenei has tried to reassure the country in recent hours, the regime will know this is a perilous moment that must be handled carefully.

Read the full analysis of Sky News here

Mourners have laid flowers outside the Iranian embassy in Moscow to pay tribute to the late president Ebrahim Raisi.

One man could be seen outside the building holding a placard with Raisi's face, saying "we mourn".

Russia has close political and economic ties to Iran, with both countries facing various economic sanctions from the West.

The Islamic Republic has been selling Russia drones used in its war in Ukraine, while Iran has been helping Moscow circumvent oil sanctions with a "ghost armada" of 16 ships.

China's president Xi Jinping has paid tribute following the death of Ebrahim Raisi as reflected on his country's strong ties with Iran.

On behalf of the Chinese leader, a foreign ministry spokesperson said: "President Xi Jinping has sent a message to Iran's first vice president Mokhber expressing the deep condolences on behalf of the Chinese government and the people for the tragic death of president Raisi in a helicopter accident.

"He extended sincere sympathies to the first vice president Mokhber, president Raisi's family, and the Iranian government and people.

"President Xi pointed out that since taking office, president Raisi made significant contributions to maintaining Iran's security and stability, and promoting the country's development and prosperity.

"He also made active efforts to strengthen and develop the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Iran. His unfortunate death is a great loss to the Iranian people, and also caused the Chinese people to lose a good friend."

Ebrahim Raisi, 63, previously ran Iran's judiciary. He ran unsuccessfully for president in 2017 against Hassan Rouhani, the relatively moderate cleric who as president reached Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

In 2021, Raisi ran again in an election that saw all of his potentially prominent opponents barred for running under Iran's vetting system. He swept nearly 62% of the 28.9 million votes, the lowest turnout by percentage in the Islamic Republic’s history. Millions stayed home and others voided ballots.

Raisi was defiant when asked at a news conference after his election about the 1988 executions, which saw sham retrials of political prisoners, militants and others that would become known as “death commissions” at the end of the bloody Iran-Iraq war.

Read the full profile of Iran's killed president from the Associated Press here

The Guardian has compiled a useful breakdown of what we know so far about the crash:

• The government has yet to make an official statement but the state-run news agency Irna reported that an urgent cabinet meeting had been called and a statement was expected soon.

• After an hours-long search hampered by fog and rain, rescuers found the burnt-out wreckage of the helicopter on a mountainside. The head of the Iranian Red Crescent, Pir Hossein Kolivand, said as rescuers approached the wreckage, that there were “no signs of life”.

• A total of nine people were on board the aircraft, according to Tasnim news agency. These included the governor of East Azerbaijan, Malek Rahmati, and Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, the representative of the leader of the Islamic evolution to East Azarbaijan province.

Read the full article here