Iran President, Foreign Minister Dead In Helicopter Crash

Iran president Ebrahim Raisi, 63, and overseas minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian were killed yesterday in a helicopter crash resulting from a “technical failure,” Iranian condition news media described. They were traveling from Iran’s border with Azerbaijan just after inaugurating a dam undertaking when their helicopter went down in a mountainous place near the city of Jolfa. Via the New York Situations:

The Iranian authorities have sought to venture a sense of order and manage. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stated there would be “no disruption” to the government’s work, and on Monday he claimed that the first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, will think the job of acting president and should organize elections for a new president within just 50 days.

The loss of life of Mr. Raisi, a conservative who crushed dissent and experienced been seen as a feasible successor to Mr. Khamenei, happened months soon after Tehran came close to open up conflict with Israel and the United States. A extensive shadow war with Israel burst into the open up in an exchange of immediate strikes past thirty day period. And looming about everything is the issue of Iran’s nuclear method. Iran has created nuclear gasoline enriched to a level just brief of what would be desired to develop various bombs.

Mr. Raisi, a tough-line religious cleric who arrived of age during the country’s Islamic revolution, was the 2nd most strong personal in Iran’s political structure immediately after Mr. Khamenei. His death may perhaps pave the way for Mr. Khamenei’s son Mojtaba to think the job of supreme chief.