According to the news of Mehr News Agency and Reuters on the 20th, Iranian President Raisi and Iranian Foreign Minister Abdollahian were killed in a helicopter accident on the 19th.
According to media reports, on the afternoon of the 19th local time, a helicopter carrying the Iranian president, foreign minister and other entourages had a hard landing accident in the Varzagan region of East Azerbaijan Province. After the accident, the Iranian side quickly organized a rescue operation, but the rescue operation was hampered by the inaccessibility of the accident area, poor mountain and forest conditions, and foggy weather.
In the early morning of the 20th local time, Turkey's Anadolu News Agency reported that the "Ranger" drone sent by Turkey to Iran identified the heat source, which was likely to be the location of the helicopter accident, and provided the exact coordinates to the Iranian side. Rescuers from the Iranian side then determined the exact specific location of the accident helicopter.
So, will President Raisi's plane crash lead to civil strife in Iran and the Middle East?
From the Iranian side, according to the law, the current political system in Iran is a republic, which means that the head of state of Iran is the president. As a rule, the president is the head of state, and the position of power is the number one person in the country. However, Iran is a different country, the Iranian president is not the number one person in Iran, and there is a more powerful position above the Iranian president, which is unique in the world, called "Supreme Leader", and the system of unity of government and religion is implemented. The so-called "theocracy" means that the head of state and the religious leader are the same person, the political power and the clergy are held by the same person, and the laws of the country are based on religious teachings. In Iran, the Supreme Leader is sacrosanct and holds office for life unless the Supreme Leader voluntarily resigns.
At present, Iran's supreme leader is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who immediately gave instructions after last night's crash to give the first vice president the powers and functions of the president.
And, judging by the composition of Iran's military forces, it is divided into government forces and revolutionary guards. Among them, the Revolutionary Guards are in the hands of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Ali, and their military strength should not be underestimated.
Therefore, from this point of view, the death of President Raisi in a plane crash will not lead to civil strife in Iran, and Khamenei is completely able to control the situation.
As for the impact on the Middle East, it depends on the results of Iran's investigation into the cause of the crash, and if the accident was a purely mechanical or weather accident, then Iran will not and has no reason to retaliate against other countries. Moreover, as long as there is no internal chaos in Iran, no Middle Eastern country will take advantage of the death of the Iranian president to attack Iran.
Therefore, Raisi's death does not seem to have a major impact on Iran and the situation in the Middle East. Of course, we will slowly observe how the situation develops.