Live Blog – Iranian President Raisi died in a helicopter crash, and Vice President Mokhber takes over his duties

NATO spokeswoman Farah Dakhlallah wrote: “Our condolences to the Iranian people on the death of President Raisi, Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahian and all the other people who died in the helicopter crash.”

The European Union also expressed its condolences. But as we mentioned, most Western government leaders remain silent.

The death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash “constitutes a massive and strategic blow to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.” This is how the Iranian opposition, also known as the National Council of Resistance of Iran, responds.

Maryam Rajavi, head of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said in a statement that his killing would unleash “a series of repercussions and crises within the regime of religious tyranny that will push young rebels to take action.”

My boss is nothing but an innocent character. After the revolution, he entered the judiciary and served as deputy prosecutor in Tehran from 1985 to 1988, a position that links him to thousands of executions of political prisoners in Iran in the 1980s. Therefore, Rajavi describes him as “the perpetrator of the mass murder of political prisoners in 1988.”

Currently, neither the United States nor other major Western powers such as France, Germany or the United Kingdom have responded to the death of the Iranian president.

There were condolences from Charles Michel, President of the European Council, and from European External Representative Josep Borrell. The European Union says it has also supported Iran with satellite information in the search for the helicopter wreckage.

Polish President Duda also responded to X. And that is it for now.

The late President Raisi and eight other victims of the helicopter crash are scheduled to be buried tomorrow in Tabriz, the city they were heading to after the inauguration of the dam. This was reported by Tasnim News Agency. Before being buried, the bodies will first be examined by forensic medicine.

The helicopter crash in Iran still raises many questions: What exactly happened? What are the consequences of the president’s death for Iran? In this piece we look for the answers:

Polish President Andrzej Duda expressed his condolences to the relatives of the victims of the helicopter crash that claimed the lives of the Iranian president and others. “I am deeply affected by the news of the tragic death of the President of Iran and the government delegation.”

He draws comparisons to the shock that gripped Poland after the Polish government plane crash in 2010, which killed then-President Lech Kaczynski. “We Poles know the feeling of shock and emptiness that remains in the hearts of the people and in the country after the sudden loss of political leaders, after the sudden loss of loved ones and friends.”

Mohamed Mokhber, first vice president under Raisi, assumes the presidency temporarily. Mokhber (68 years old), who holds a doctorate in international law and administration, is close to Ayatollah Khamenei, just like Raisi.

In the past, he was a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, CEO of a local telecommunications company, president of a bank, and deputy governor of the Iranian province of Khuzestan. Before becoming vice president, he led Setad for 14 years, a powerful multi-billion-dollar group of companies, buildings and investments serving the Ayatollah.

An informant was on the European sanctions list for a few years in 2010 for his possible involvement in “nuclear or ballistic missile activities.” In October 2022, he went to Moscow to finalize a deal to supply Iran with Shahed drones and missiles to Russia to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

After the death of Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Deputy Minister Ali Bagheri Kani takes over his position. Kanye is an experienced diplomat and was, among other things, the lead negotiator in the prisoner exchange deal between the United States and Iran last September.

European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenaričić defended the European decision to support Iran with satellite images in the search for the helicopter wreckage. When he announced this yesterday on Channel X, he was severely criticized as if he was supporting a rogue state.

According to him, it was in no way about “political support for a regime or institution,” as he now writes on X. “It is merely an expression of the simplest humanity.”