“President Raisi’s helicopter crashes in Iran: What we know so far,” Al Jazeera, 5-19-24.  “Travelling with Ebrahim Raisi were Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran’s East Azerbaijan Province Governor Malek Rahmati, and Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, the representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to East Azerbaijan, according to state media. Where did the helicopter fall? It fell in the Dizmar Protected Area, a wildlife corridor across the border with Azerbaijan. State TV initially said the helicopter fell near Jolfa, a city on the border with Azerbaijan but later it put it farther east near the village of Uzi.”  … “… where his helicopter went down, while the rest of the convoy continued.”  What?!  The president of the country’s copter goes down and the others don’t stay or at a minimum mark the spot?

Per Iranian Constitution Art. 131, the first vice president becomes acting president if the president is incapacitated (and if the supreme leader approves).  The next president is elected in 50 days.  The first vice president is Muhammad Mukhbar.

“Official says rescuers see helicopter that was carrying Iran’s president, others at a distance,” AP, 5-19-24.  It is more than 12 hours after the crash, on the side of a mountain.  Rescuers still have not arrived.

BTW, since taking office in 2021, Raisi has tightened morality laws against women, was in charge during another bloody crackdown on anti-government  protesters, and oversaw the continuation of Iran’s nuclear program and its enriching uranium close to weapons-grade levels.  They also supplied missiles and bomb-carrying drones to Russia for use against Ukraine.  And don’t forget Hamas and the attacks on Israel, including Hezbollah to the north since Oct. 2023 and via proxies throughout the Middle East.  And then there’s the unprecedented huge missile and drone attack on Israel.  He’s been busy.

“Saudi Arabia has long relied — like other Gulf Arab nations — on the U.S. to be the security guarantor for the wider Middle East as tensions over Iran’s nuclear program in recent years have spilled over into a series of attacks. The proposal now being discussed likely would deepen that, and also reportedly includes access to advanced weapons and possibly trade deals as well. Saudi Arabia has also pushed for nuclear cooperation in the deal that includes America allowing it to enrich uranium in the kingdom — something that worries nonproliferation experts, as spinning centrifuges opens the door to a possible weapons program. Prince Mohammed has said the kingdom would pursue a nuclear weapon if Iran had one. Iran in recent weeks has increasingly threatened it could do so.”  See “Biden national security adviser, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince discuss security deal,” Politico, 5-19-24.

Over and over we were told it was a “hard landing.”  That repeated statement was misleading or even a lie, reflecting how government orders are handled by state media.  See BBC, “Iran president helicopter in hard landing – state media,” 5-19-24.