Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has died in a helicopter crash. Mohammed Mochber will take over his position until the new elections. Putin calls Raisi’s death an “irreplaceable loss.” All developments in the ticker.
3:19 p.m.: After the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hussein Amirabdollahian in a helicopter crash, Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his condolences to the government in Tehran and the families of the dead. “The news of the helicopter crash and the death of President Raisi has reached us. Our condolences go out to the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the families of those killed in the crash,” said an unusually short condolence letter to Vice President Mohammed Mochber, who took over the reins, published on Tuesday.
1:36 p.m.: The UN Security Council held a minute’s silence for the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Tuesday. There is great outrage in Israel. Nobody expects a regime change in Tehran. Israel correspondent Ben blessingreich reports for FOCUS online about the mood in the country. More about that here.
Tuesday, May 21st, 6:49 a.m.: After the fatal crash of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter, according to US information, Tehran itself asked its arch-enemy, the USA, for help. “We have been asked for assistance by the Iranian government,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in Washington on Monday. “We said we were ready to help – something we would do for any government in such a situation.”
Ultimately, however, the US was unable to provide the requested assistance “mainly for logistical reasons,” Miller added, without giving details. He also did not want to comment on the form of communication between the two countries, which have no longer had diplomatic relations since the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979.
Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said everything indicates that the crash of Raisi’s helicopter was an accident. Responsible could be “a number of things – mechanical failure, pilot error, whatever,” he said. In any case, the USA had “nothing to do with it. That is simply a fact.”
In the past, Iranian government officials have repeatedly blamed Israel or the USA for security incidents in Iran. Former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday linked the helicopter crash to US sanctions that ban the sale of spare parts for the aviation industry.
State Department spokesman Miller commented on Zarif’s comments by saying that ultimately the Iranian government itself was “responsible for the decision to fly a 45-year-old helicopter in bad weather conditions.”
2:14 p.m.: Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with Mohammed Mochber, the interim president of Iran after Raisi’s death. Both emphasized their “mutual intention to further strengthen Russian-Iranian interaction,” according to the Kremlin.
12.24 p.m.: The EU supported Iran in the search for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash. Janez Lenarčič (56), EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, announced this on Saturday evening on X (formerly Twitter). “In response to the Iranian request for help, we are activating the European Copernicus EMS Rapid Response Mapping Service in view of the helicopter accident in which the Iranian president and his foreign minister are said to have died.” He then added the hashtag underneath
This caused massive criticism. “It is an absolute mystery to me how the EU Commission can show EU solidarity with Iran,” said FDP defense politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann. “What a miserable hashtag, what a mockery of the brave fighters for human rights in Iran. I expect an explanation for this.” And the CDU foreign expert Roderich Kiesewetter also spoke up: “Drone war against Ukraine and you talk about EU solidarity? Disgusting.”
On Monday, EU Council President Charles Michel expressed his condolences on behalf of the EU. “The EU expresses its sincere condolences on the death of President Raisi and Foreign Minister Abdollahian, as well as other members of their delegation and crew, in a helicopter accident,” Michel said on his official account on X.
12.10 p.m.: According to government sources, all nine fatalities have been identified after the presidential helicopter crashed in Iran. Despite severe burns, the identities of the passengers were established on Monday, a high-ranking government official told the Iranian news agency Tasnim. Their bodies have since been transferred to Tabriz, the capital of East Azerbaijan Province.
11.40 a.m.: After the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, politicians in Germany do not expect Tehran to change course in foreign policy. Green Party leader Omid Nouripour told Spiegel magazine on Monday that “without this one hardliner, the regime will still remain aggressive.” However, it is conceivable that behind the scenes “violent diadoch wars could break out over the successor to the revolutionary leader”.
FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai warned against the illusion that Iran would now change its geopolitical agenda. “Raisi’s death will not change the Islamic Republic’s external policy,” he told the magazine. The key decisions in Iran’s political system are made by revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and not by the president. The FDP politician of Iranian descent went on to say that Raisi’s death was relevant to the domestic political question of who Khamenei’s possible successors could be.
However, CDU foreign policy expert Jürgen Hardt now sees a small chance for change. “Many people, not just in Iran, are now hoping for change,” Hardt told “Spiegel”. The aging Mullah-Regine will have problems replacing the president in the short term with a person with equal authority. “The power struggles at the top are now being reignited.”
10:55 a.m.: A violent power struggle is likely to break out with Raisi’s death, wrote Iran expert Arash Azizi in an analysis for the US magazine “The Atlantic”. Raisi’s passivity has encouraged challengers among the hardliners. They would see his weak presidency as an opportunity. “Raisi’s death would change the balance of power between factions within the Islamic Republic,” it said before Iranian state media confirmed Raisi’s death.
Hamidreza Azizi, visiting researcher at the Berlin Foundation for Science and Politics, does not see any serious changes in Iran’s political system, since the important decisions are made by Khamenei and the powerful Revolutionary Guards anyway. Overall, the impact of Raisi’s death is “neither fundamental nor a decisive blow to the system,” Azizi wrote on
10:43 a.m.: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has officially declared Vice President Mohammed Mochber as interim head of state following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi.
This step was already expected. Mokhber now has 50 days to organize new elections in coordination with the judiciary and the legislature, said Khamenei.
A separate statement published by Iran’s state news agency IRNA said the cabinet had decided that Ali Bagheri Kani would be promoted from political deputy at the foreign ministry to acting foreign minister.
10.34 a.m.: After the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, EU Council President Charles Michel expressed his condolences on behalf of the EU. “The EU expresses its sincere condolences on the death of President Raisi and Foreign Minister Abdollahian, as well as other members of their delegation and crew in a helicopter accident,” Michel wrote on his official account on X on Monday. “Our thoughts are with the families.”
The EU only expanded its previous sanctions against Iran last week. The background is in particular the major Iranian attack on Israel with drones and missiles in mid-April, which followed a suspected Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital Damascus. The EU has also imposed sanctions on the country for serious human rights violations.
10:22 a.m.: Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in Iran, as an “outstanding” politician and a “true friend of Russia.” Raisi’s death was an “irreplaceable loss,” Putin said on Monday in a letter to Iran’s spiritual leader Ayatollah Khamenei published on the Kremlin website. Raisi made “an invaluable personal contribution to the development of good neighborly relations” between the two countries, it said.
Foreign Minister Lavrov also described Raisi and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who also died in the crash, as “reliable friends” of Russia. They were “patriots” who had “resolutely defended” the interests of their state.
Iran is increasingly politically isolated over its controversial nuclear program and its support for militant groups in the Middle East. That is why the government has strengthened relations with Russia, among others, in recent years.
10:20 a.m.: Iran’s religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered five days of national mourning following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi. This emerged from a statement on Monday.
9:30 a.m.: Israel has not yet made an official statement after the fatal helicopter crash in Iran – however, Israeli media reported on Monday, citing unnamed government officials, that Israel had nothing to do with the incident in the country of its arch-enemy.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his Foreign Minister Hussein Amirabdollahian were killed on Sunday when their helicopter crashed in Iran.
Israeli newspaper Yediot Achronot reported Monday that Israel expects no real impact on the Jewish state from the deaths of Raisi and Amirabdollahian. There is no expectation of a change in the Islamic Republic’s policy towards Israel.
The only question now is who will replace the Iranian president. “Senior government officials in Jerusalem, apart from changes within Iran, do not expect there to be any impact on Israel because the person making decisions about Iran’s nuclear program and anti-Israel terror campaign is Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.” , wrote the paper. “In this area, Raisi’s death will make no difference, neither for better nor for worse.”
The enemy countries Israel and Iran came close to war last month. Iran fired more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel, marking the country’s first direct attack. Tehran said it was retaliating for the deaths of two generals in an attack allegedly carried out by Israel on the Iranian embassy compound in the Syrian capital Damascus. However, after a limited counterattack by Israel in Iran, there was initially no further escalation.
Israel sees Iran’s controversial nuclear program and massive missile and drone arsenal as the greatest threat to its existence. The leadership of the Islamic Republic denies the Jewish state the right to exist.
8:10 a.m.: The bodies of the victims of the helicopter crash will be brought to the city of Tabriz, according to the head of the Iranian Red Crescent, Iranian news agency Tasnim reports. The search and rescue work has been completed. The late President Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter crashed on its way from the Iranian province of East Azerbaijan to the city of Tabriz.
7:45 a.m.: The Iranian government has said it will continue to operate without “the slightest disruption” following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi. “The hard-working and tireless President of the Iranian people (…) sacrificed his life for the nation,” the government said on Monday. “We assure the loyal nation that with God’s help and the support of the people, there will not be the slightest disruption in the administration of the country.”
Raisi served in the country’s central judicial authority for over three decades. In 2019 he was appointed head of justice. In his previous role as public prosecutor, he is said to have been responsible for numerous arrests and executions of political dissidents in 1988, which is why his opponents gave him the nickname “Butcher of Tehran”.
7:36 a.m.: In addition to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hussein Amirabdollahian, the names of other deceased inmates have now also been announced. According to the state news agency IRNA, also present were Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Al-e Hashem, imam for Friday prayers in the city of Tabriz, General Malek Rahmati, governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and the commander of the presidential protection units, Sardar Seyed Mehdi Mousavi, as well as one Row of bodyguards and helicopter crew on board. His name is not yet known.
7 a.m.: After the deaths of President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hussein Amirabdollahian in a helicopter crash, Iran’s cabinet met again for an emergency meeting. Iranian media reported this unanimously on Monday morning. The first vice president, Mohammed Mochber, had already chaired a meeting late in the evening. According to protocol, he would take over the reins of government in the event of Raisi’s death. New elections must take place within 50 days.
On Monday morning, state media confirmed the deaths of all nine people on board the presidential helicopter. Raisi was returning from a meeting with the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, on Sunday afternoon with Foreign Minister Amirabdollahian when their plane disappeared from radar in thick fog. Rescue workers searched for the helicopter for hours before the wreckage was discovered early in the morning.
6:08 a.m.: Several Iranian media outlets, as well as state television, reported on Monday morning that Iran’s President Ebrahim Raissi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian were killed when their helicopter crashed in the northwest of the country. Raisi had an accident “while serving the Iranian people and fulfilling his duty and died a martyr’s death,” reported the Mehr news agency. An official government statement is expected to follow.
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