Iran helicopter crash: Mohammad Mokhber becomes acting president

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the nation’s international minister have been discovered useless Monday hours after their helicopter crashed in fog, leaving the Islamic Republic with out two key leaders as extraordinary tensions grip the broader Center East.

Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the ultimate say within the Shiite theocracy, shortly named a little-known vice chairman as caretaker and insisted the federal government was in management, however the deaths marked yet one more blow to a rustic beset by pressures at dwelling and overseas.

Iran has provided no trigger for the crash nor recommended sabotage introduced down the helicopter, which fell in mountainous terrain in a sudden, intense fog.

In Tehran, Iran’s capital, companies have been open and youngsters attended faculty Monday. Nevertheless, there was a noticeable presence of each uniformed and plainclothes safety forces.

Later within the day, tons of of mourners crowded into downtown Vali-e-Asr sq. holding posters of Raisi and waving Palestinian flags. Some males clutched prayer beads and have been visibly crying. Girls carrying black chadors gathered collectively holding images of the useless chief.

“We have been shocked that we misplaced such a personality, a personality that made Iran proud, and humiliated the enemies,” mentioned Mohammad Beheshti, 36.

The crash comes because the Israel-Hamas conflict roils the area. Iran-backed Hamas led the assault that began the battle, and Hezbollah, additionally supported by Tehran, has fired rockets at Israel. Final month, Iran launched its personal unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on Israel.

A hard-liner who previously led the nation’s judiciary, Raisi, 63, was seen as a protege of Khamenei. Throughout his tenure, relations continued to deteriorate with the West as Iran enriched uranium nearer than ever to weapons-grade ranges and equipped bomb-carrying drones to Russia for its conflict in Ukraine.

His authorities has additionally confronted years of mass protests over the ailing economic system and girls’s rights — making the second that rather more delicate.

The crash killed all eight folks aboard a Bell 212 helicopter that Iran bought within the early 2000s, in accordance with the state-run IRNA information company. Among the many useless have been Iranian Overseas Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, a senior cleric from Tabriz, a Revolutionary Guard official and three crew members, IRNA mentioned.

Iran has flown Bell helicopters extensively for the reason that shah’s period. However plane in Iran face a scarcity of elements due to Western sanctions, and sometimes fly with out security checks. In opposition to that backdrop, former Iranian Overseas Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif sought in charge america for the crash.

“One of many foremost culprits of yesterday’s tragedy is america, which … embargoed the sale of plane and aviation elements to Iran and doesn’t enable the folks of Iran to take pleasure in good aviation services,” Zarif informed The Related Press.

Ali Vaez, Iran challenge director with the Worldwide Disaster Group, mentioned that whereas U.S. sanctions have disadvantaged Iran of the power to resume and restore its fleet for many years, “one can’t overlook human error and the climate’s position on this explicit accident.’’

Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst and marketing consultant, mentioned Iran possible is tapping the black marketplace for elements to keep up the fleet, however questioned whether or not Iran has the upkeep abilities to maintain older helicopters flying safely.

“Black-market elements and no matter native upkeep capabilities they’ve received — that’s not a superb mixture,” he mentioned.

There are 15 Bell 212 helicopters with a mean age of 35 years presently registered in Iran that might be in energetic use or in storage, in accordance with aviation knowledge agency Cirium.

State TV gave no fast trigger for the crash in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. Footage launched by IRNA confirmed the crash web site, throughout a steep valley in a inexperienced mountain vary.

U.S. Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin mentioned the U.S. continues to watch the state of affairs surrounding the “very unlucky helicopter crash” however has no perception into the trigger. “I don’t essentially see any broader regional safety impacts at this time limit,” he mentioned.

White Home nationwide safety spokesman John Kirby mentioned Monday the demise of Raisi and Amirabdollahian isn’t anticipated to have any substantive influence on troublesome U.S.-Iran relations.

He added the U.S. anticipated the change in management wouldn’t change Iran’s help of Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Yemen-based Houthi rebels.

“We’ve got to imagine that the supreme chief is the one who makes these choices and the supreme chief, as he as he did within the final so-called election, made positive to stack the deck with solely candidates that met his mandates,” Kirby mentioned.

For now, Khamenei has named the primary vice chairman, Mohammad Mokhber, as caretaker, in keeping with the structure. The election for a successor was to be held on June 28, IRNA mentioned. Raisi’s funeral was to happen in Mashhad, the town the place he was born, on Thursday, with different funerals to be held on Tuesday, state TV mentioned.

Ali Bagheri Kani, a nuclear negotiator for Iran, will function the nation’s performing international minister, state TV mentioned.

Condolences poured in from neighbors and allies after Iran confirmed there have been no survivors. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned in a publish on the social media platform X that his nation “stands with Iran on this time of sorrow.” Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a press release launched by the Kremlin, described Raisi “as a real pal of Russia.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, China’s Xi Jinping and Syrian President Bashar Assad additionally provided condolences. Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, mentioned he and his authorities have been “deeply shocked.” Raisi was returning Sunday from Iran’s border with Azerbaijan, the place he had inaugurated a dam with Aliyev, when the crash occurred.

The demise additionally surprised Iranians, and Khamenei declared 5 days of public mourning. However many have been floor down by the collapse of the nation’s rial foreign money and worries about regional conflicts spinning uncontrolled with Israel and even with Pakistan, which Iran exchanged hearth with this yr.

“He tried to hold out his duties nicely, however I don’t assume he was as profitable as he ought to have been,” mentioned Mahrooz Mohammadi Zadeh, 53, a resident of Tehran.

Khamenei burdened the enterprise of Iran’s authorities would proceed it doesn’t matter what — however Raisi’s demise raised the specter of what is going to occur after the 85-year-old supreme chief both resigns or dies. The ultimate say in all issues of state rests together with his workplace and solely two males have held the place for the reason that 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Raisi had been mentioned as a contender. The one different individual recommended has been Khamenei’s 55-year-old son, Mojtaba. Nevertheless, issues have been raised over the place going to a member of the family, significantly after the revolution overthrew the hereditary Pahlavi monarchy of the shah.

An emergency assembly of Iran’s Cupboard issued a press release pledging it could comply with Raisi’s path and that “with the assistance of God and the folks, there might be no drawback with administration of the nation.”

Raisi received Iran’s 2021 presidential election, in a vote that noticed the bottom turnout within the Islamic Republic’s historical past. He was sanctioned by the U.S. partly over his involvement within the execution of hundreds of political prisoners in 1988 on the finish of the bloody Iran-Iraq conflict.

Below Raisi, Iran now enriches uranium at practically weapons-grade ranges and hampers worldwide inspections. Iran has armed Russia in its conflict on Ukraine, in addition to launched a large drone-and-missile assault on Israel amid its conflict in opposition to Hamas within the Gaza Strip. It additionally has continued arming proxy teams within the Mideast, like Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Mass protests within the nation have raged for years. The latest concerned the 2022 demise of Mahsa Amini, a lady detained over her allegedly free headband, or hijab. The monthslong safety crackdown that adopted the demonstrations killed greater than 500 folks and noticed over 22,000 detained.

In March, a United Nations investigative panel discovered that Iran was answerable for the “bodily violence” that led to Amini’s demise.

Raisi is the second Iranian president to die in workplace. In 1981, a bomb blast killed President Mohammad Ali Rajai within the chaotic days after the nation’s Islamic Revolution.

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Related Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, Paul Wiseman and Lolita Baldor in Washington, and AP Airways Author David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report.