IRAN PRESIDENT EBRAHIM RAISI DIED

 Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi died

    Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash on May 19, 2024. The crash occurred in the Varzghan region of East Azerbaijan province due to heavy fog. Alongside Raisi, several high-ranking officials, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and the East Azerbaijan Governor, were also killed in the accident​.

    Following the crash, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared five days of national mourning and appointed Vice President Mohammad Mokhber as the interim president. Mokhber is expected to work with the heads of the legislative and judicial branches to organize a new presidential election within fifty days, as stipulated by the Iranian constitution​.

    Raisi, who was often referred to as a hardliner and an ally of Supreme Leader Khamenei, had a controversial career. He was particularly criticized for his role in the 1988 executions of political prisoners and was known for his stringent judicial positions before becoming president in 2021​

       On 19 May 2024, Raisi, foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and several other officials were killed when Raisi's helicopter crashed near the village of Uzi in East Azerbaijan province. Iran's semi-official news agency, Mehr News, described them as having been "martyred in the crash." Raisi was the second president of Iran to have died in office, following Mohammad-Ali Rajai, who died in a 1981 bombing.

                                                                

    Raisi's death received mixed reactions among the public in Iran, with some mourning and others celebrating. The United Nations security council stood for a minute's silence for Raisi.

The international community has reacted to the news with condolences, and the incident has heightened the already tense political climate in the region​.

    What comes next for Iran after Raisi’s death?

                        Being Iran’s President is not easy. The highest elected office in the country is not the most powerful one. The President is answerable to the Supreme Leader, who is appointed by a body of senior clerics. The President’s main responsibility is to run the day-to-day affairs of the country, especially its crisis-ridden, sanctions-hit economy. The President also has to run a delicate foreign policy in a hostile region where its only national state ally is Syria, which itself has been battered by years of civil war. The President has to do a lot of balancing acts at home as well, keeping the link between popular legitimacy and clerical rule alive, while also working with the security apparatus, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), to protect Tehran’s key geopolitical interests.

Source: The Hindu