Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, seen as a leading candidate to become Tehran’s next supreme leader, was missing along with other officials Sunday after their government helicopter crashed in a mountainous region in Iran’s eastern province.
The Iranian military and the country’s Red Crescent Society sent dozens of teams on foot into a remote area near the border with Azerbaijan to search for any signs of the crash.
The harsh weather conditions made the operation difficult for rescue teams armed with drones and search dogs, officials said.
“Due to the impassability of the area, as well as adverse weather conditions — especially thick fog in the area — search and rescue operations take time,” according to the state-owned Islamic Republic News Agency.
Mr. Raisi, a 63-year-old cleric and hard-liner, was on the border with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev early Sunday to inaugurate a dam. The dam is the third built jointly by the two countries on the Aras River.
Mr. Aliyev said he was “profoundly troubled” after learning about the helicopter crash. The Iranian delegation also included Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian.
“As a neighbor, friend, and brotherly country, the Republic of Azerbaijan stands ready to offer any assistance needed,” Mr. Aliyev said on X.
Relations between Iran and Azerbaijan have been tense. Tehran has been accused of supplying fuel to Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway region in Azerbaijan where ethnic Armenians have battled government forces in recent years. As the Israel-Hamas war rages, Azerbaijan has maintained diplomatic relationships with Israel. Iran views the Jewish state as its primary enemy.
Iran launched an unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel last month and has enriched uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels.
On Sunday, a State Department spokesperson said officials were “closely following” the reports from Iran but offered “no further comment at this time.”
The regime’s Cabinet held an emergency session. Vice President Mohammad Mokhber directed government efforts to find the helicopter and Mr. Raisi’s entourage.
“Mokhber ordered Health Minister Bahram Einollahi and Deputy President for Executive Affairs Mohsen Mansouri to travel to the region where the copter is believed to have crashed to supervise search and rescue operations in the area,” IRNA reported.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, asked Iranians to pray for the health of those aboard the helicopter. The cleric, 85, has long been considered a mentor to Mr. Raisi.
Gabriel Noronha, a security analyst with the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, said the post of president in Iran’s government is relatively unimportant. The officeholder traditionally deals with domestic issues rather than national security or the country’s ideological direction, he said.
The Assembly of Experts, an 88-member body, will appoint the next supreme leader. Iranian pundits think the competition to succeed Ayatollah Khamenei will come down to Mr. Raisi or the supreme leader’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, Mr. Noronha said Sunday.
“If Raisi is dead, Mojtaba becomes heir apparent,” he said. “A question is whether anyone else would rise to challenge Mojtaba in the internal machinations. If not, it’s his for the taking.”
Still, Tehran will open itself to criticism that it has become merely a hereditary monarchy dressed in Islamic clothing if the supreme leader is succeeded by his son, Mr. Noronha said.
“This would make it harder for the regime to differentiate itself from its predecessor Pahlavi government, which is becoming viewed more favorably in retrospect by Iranians today,” he said.
Mr. Raisi’s death or incapacitation wouldn’t change the Iran regime’s fundamental policies. Ayatollah Khamenei remains in office and is the country’s constitutional commander in chief, said Jason Brodsky, a scholar at the Middle East Institute.
“It has the potential to scramble the politics of succession in the Islamic republic with Raisi as a leading candidate as Khamenei’s successor,” Mr. Brodsky said. “Raisi is also the most qualified person by virtue of bureaucratic experience to succeed Khamenei. He has been the closest person ideologically to Khamenei since he took over as supreme leader in 1989.”
Mr. Raisi ran the country’s judiciary before becoming president and faces sanctions from the U.S. and other governments over his involvement in the mass execution of political prisoners in 1988. He ran for president in 2017 and lost to Hassan Rouhani, who was considered moderate by comparison.
He again sought the presidency in 2021 in an election that barred his potential rivals from running for office. Mr. Raisi received about 72% of the ballots, and the election was widely considered a sham.
Amnesty International identified Mr. Raisi as a member of an Iranian government “death commission,” which carried out the executions of thousands of political dissidents in Evin and Gohardasht prisons near Tehran from July through September 1988. Most of the bodies were buried in unmarked mass graves. Amnesty called for Mr. Raisi to be criminally investigated for crimes against humanity after his election to the presidency.
“Ebrahim Raisi also oversaw the arbitrary arrests of thousands of peaceful protesters, dissidents, human rights defenders and members of ethnic and religious minorities,” Amnesty said in 2021. “Under his watch, the judiciary has granted blanket immunity to government officials and security forces responsible for unlawfully killing hundreds of men, women and children and subjecting thousands of protesters to mass arrests.”
IRNA called the area where the helicopter is thought to have gone down a “forest.” The region is also known to be mountainous. State TV aired images of SUVs racing through a wooded area and said they were hampered by poor weather conditions, including heavy rain and wind. Rescuers could be seen walking in the fog and mist.
President Biden was briefed by aides on the Iran crash, but administration officials did not learn much more than what was reported publicly by Iranian state media, a senior administration official said.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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