The Iranian president died during an air disaster. The background is unclear, the country is facing a power struggle
The helicopter with President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian crashed in a rocky area near the border with Azerbaijan. There was a controversial politician behind the political murders in the country. However, the real head of Iran is its spiritual leader, a position Raisi also aspired to. Since he has now left the field of candidates, there are many questions about the tragedy. Therefore, Iran is facing a political struggle for key positions.
The helicopter accident with Iranian politicians on board already occurred on Sunday afternoon, but official information confirming the president's death reached the media only the following day. In the mountains over which the helicopter with the crew was flying, the weather was unfavorable and the pilot crashed into some poorly visible rock protrusion.
The Iranians on board were travelling from the ceremonial opening of a dam, where they met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Although according to the available information, there was indeed strong wind, fog and rain at the location, there are doubts about some of the circumstances of the disaster.
Someone may have "worked" on the strange accident
Mountaineers from the rescue unit reached the accident site after hours and went on the mission lightly, without climbing equipment. The body of the president was supposed to have been found by a Turkish search drone with thermal imaging, but by that time his body was no longer emitting the thermal radiation typical for a human being.
"The obviously botched and elongated rescue operation may suggest two other possibilities. Firstly, someone intentionally 'worked' on the crash of the presidential helicopter and there was an intention to delay the rescue so that the passengers would certainly not survive. Or secondly - and much more likely - the pilots managed to report to ground control what was happening before the crash, and the delay of rescue work was to gain time for the regime to control the political damage caused by the accident,"
The commentator Karel Dolejší spoke about the circumstances of the accident on Forum24.cz.
The deceased president led the Death Commission
Ebrahim Raísí had religious and legal education. Although he did not represent the radical wing in the current Iranian regime, he was considered a person who currently has the most political murders on his conscience.
Particularly because of the so-called Death Commissions, which in 1988 investigated and executed enemies of the regime from the Marxist-Islamic movement. According to information from human rights organizations, during the investigation, it was enough to express unwillingness to go clear minefields from the war times and therefore earn a death sentence. Investigations of Raisi's commission, according to estimates, led to as many as five thousand executions.
The bloody past of the president, for which he was given the nickname "The Tehran Butcher", is quite well known among the Iranian public, and after his death, the streets erupted with the rejoicing of regime opponents. Iraqis also freshly remember protests following the death of twenty-two-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died under unexplained circumstances after her arrest by the moral police. Her death indeed sparked significant protests in the country, but the demonstrators were suppressed under Raisi's patronage, and allegedly several hundred of them died.
"About the helicopter crash in which the Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi died, who was responsible for brutal repression at home and support for terrorism in the Middle East, perhaps you can only say that the helicopter would be a pity if Iran did not own it,"
The accident was commented by political scientist and publicist Jiří Pehe on the X network. Such a message is no exception. Although officials of allied regimes in China, for example, officially condoled, but also the head of the European Council Charles Michel, many people who left Iran and live abroad commented similarly on the event.
Iran is facing a tough political battle after the death of the president. However, the focus is not primarily on his office. The leading figure in the country is the religious leader of the Islamic Revolution (so-called rachbar), the office is currently held by Ali Khamenei. However, approaching his eighties, the end of his reign is near and Raisi was considered the most likely successor, who also has enough power to take up the key function. However, the search for a new leader is now open and among the current contenders, including Ali Khamenei's son, a ruthless battle for power will undoubtedly break out.
Sources: iranprimer.usip.org, nbc.com, forum24.cz, x.com, ČTK, author's article
