Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi Dies in Helicopter Crash Amid Tensions - What's Next for Tehran?

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, along with the country’s foreign minister and others, were found dead Monday morning hours after their helicopter crashed in dense fog in a mountainous region of the country’s northwest, state media reported. Raisi was 63.

The crash comes at hugely a tumultuous time for the Middle East amid the Israel-Hamas war, during which Raisi, under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel just last month. Under Raisi, Iran has enriched uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels, further escalating tension with the West as Tehran also supplied bomb-carrying drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine and continued arming proxy groups in the Mideast such as Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Raisi was also in power through years of major protests against Iran’s ruling Shiite Muslim theocracy, of which he was a key member, over the country’s ailing economy and women’s rights.

All of those factors make the moment more sensitive for Tehran and the future of the country, but Iranians were quickly reassured that life would go on as it has by the country’s real top power, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Under the Islamic republic’s governing system, the president is not the ultimate decision maker, and all other government officials, along with the military and all law enforcement agencies, answer ultimately to Khamenei, who at 85 has ruled over the country since 1989.

Given that power structure, CBS News’ Seyed Bathaei in Tehran said it was unlikely that Raisi’s death would spark any political crisis.

Raisi was also in power through years of major protests against Iran’s ruling Shiite Muslim theocracy, of which he was a key member, over the country’s ailing economy and women’s rights.

All of those factors make the moment more sensitive for Tehran and the future of the country, but Iranians were quickly reassured that life would go on as it has by the country’s real top power, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Under the Islamic republic’s governing system, the president is not the ultimate decision maker, and all other government officials, along with the military and all law enforcement agencies, answer ultimately to Khamenei, who at 85 has ruled over the country since 1989.

Given that power structure, CBS News’ Seyed Bathaei in Tehran said it was unlikely that Raisi’s death would spark any political crisis.

State TV gave no immediate cause for the crash that occurred in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province.

The Iranian Red Crescent said the bodies of all the victims were recovered from the crash site.

Among the dead was Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, who was 60. The helicopter also carried the governor of the East Azerbaijan province, along with other officials and bodyguards, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said.

Turkish authorities released drone video early Monday showing a heat signature at a site in the wilderness that they “suspected to be wreckage of helicopter.” The coordinates listed in the video put the fire some 12 miles south of the Azerbaijan-Iranian border, on the side of a steep, forested mountain.

Video released later Monday morning by IRNA showed what the agency described as the crash site on a steep hillside.

Soldiers speaking in the local Azeri language can be heard saying: “There it is, we found it.”

Iran’s government flies a variety of helicopters, but international sanctions make it difficult to obtain parts for many of them. Its military air fleet also largely dates back to before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The supreme leader has stressed that the business of Iran’s government will continue unphased. Under the Iranian constitution.

First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber had already started receiving calls from officials and foreign governments before Khamenei confirmed on Monday that he was replacing Raisi, state media reported.

The Iranian cabinet issued a statement after convening Monday pledging to follow Raisi’s path and adding that, “with the help of God and the people, there will be no problem with management of the country.”

The cabinet said the “hard-working president” had been “martyred” and vowed to keep the government running “without the slightest disruption.”

Raisi, a hard-liner, had been viewed as a protégé of Khamenei and some analysts believed he could even replace the octogenarian supreme leader when the ayatollah dies or steps down.

The only other person to have been suggested as a possible next supreme leader is Mojtaba Khameini, the 55-year-old son of Khamenei. However, some have raised concerns over the prospect of the position being taken — for only the third time since the 1979 revolution.

(CBS News)