Top officials in the chopper, both in the same aircraft. That is one of the major criticisms that has been directed at the system of why having two senior officials on the same aircraft. There are a lot of questions that still need to be answered. But this also speaks to that lack of access and equipment and the ageing fleet in the Aviation Industry where civilians had, over the years, then paying the major toll for, but in some cases also, officials. But in some cases also, officials but in some cases also, officials. �. , officials. An important point to make there. Officials. An important point to make there. He officials. An important point to make there. He was officials. An important point to make there. He was in i officials. An important point. To make there. He was in high demand as you would expect with this Breaking News, thank you very much for taking the time to speak to us here on bbc news. Lets take a moment review the latest coming out of iran. The State Television is reporting there is no sign of life coming from president Ebrahim Raisis helicopter. The Reuters News Agency has also reported that the helicopter was completely burned in the crash, citing an iranian official. The official reportedly goes on to say that president raisis helicopter was completely burned in the crash. Unfortunately, all passengers are feared dead. These are the two men believed to have been on board president Ebrahim Raisi on the left, and the countrys Foreign Minister hossein on the right. The helicopter came down in a remote mountainous area near the border with azerbaijan. The search was hampered by thick fog until a turkish Surveillance Drone identified a heat signature. Joining me to discuss the developments is our persian correspondnet khashayarjoneidi. What was interesting in this search and Rescue Operation is that many players from across the region, as well as the European Union all kind of came together to deploy any of the technology that they had to go about this search and what people were hoping would also be a Rescue Operation. What does that tell us about just how significant it is to see these two high ranking members of the government in a helicopter together, and then for this accident to take place . I was talking to a former army pilot who used to fly with similar helicopters, and what he mentioned to me is that they always had this problem of several officials in the country, it is said people in high risk situations usually have two high officials accompanying each other on the same flight. Accompanying each other on the same flight same flight. And this is like when i talked same flight. And this is like when i talked in same flight. And this is like when i talked in the same flight. And this is like when i talked in the early i when i talked in the early hours, you have a president and Foreign Minister sitting together and having the governor of their and this is highly questionable. But the other thing is regarding cooperation, this is what we are expecting among neighbours. Iran and turkey are regional rivals. At the same time, they have close relations and when they were miles of forest massive forest fires in turkey some polo, the Iranian Air Force dispatched the Firefighting Blaine to help fight the fires there, and now we have the helicopters, which on board were the president and Foreign Minister, turkey offered to help, offered helicopters with nightvision tools, something iran lacks, and they also said there drone to help, and actually it was from the report that we received, it was the drone that noticed, identified a heat source in the forest, in the wooden areas. I have dimension the crash site is a treacherous terrain, mountainous, heavily forested and it was not easy to perform the rescue and search operation, and it was this drone that pinpointed the region in which they believed the crash site is, and it was after that that we heard that the Rescue Workers had located the Rescue Workers had located the site and they were approaching the helicopter, which now pictures show that has hit the mountain and has burnt. Ii has hit the mountain and has burnt. ,. ,. ~ has hit the mountain and has burnt. ,. ,. , ~. , has hit the mountain and has burnt. ,. , ~. ,. , burnt. If you take a look at some comments burnt. If you take a look at some comments that burnt. If you take a look at some comments that you | burnt. If you take a look at some comments that you have coming out of washington, the us senator Chuck SchumerChuck Schumer, he was in a few hours ago but it was thank they did not appear to be evidence of foul play. We will await further details and investigation as well. Russia has said it would be willing to assist with that. But no matter what comes out of this, you were mentioning previously about this polarised divided society there in iraq. Is there the potential here for Conspiracy Theories to swell over what we are seeing happening . Over what we are seeing haueninu . � , happening . Absolutely. There is alwa s a happening . Absolutely. There is always a potential, happening . Absolutely. There is always a potential, a always a potential, a possibility of having various theories. First of all, we still dont have the facts. The crash site has just been identified. It will take many days to investigate the area. And then the question is whether irans neighbours or some regional players like americans have satellite stations, the russians are monitoring the area. If they come up with evidence that shows what has happened if they produce that and provide aroma that information. So it will be some sort of investigation is needed to be done to see whether it is a technical issue or whether it is bad weather, because there is a record of most civil officials getting on a helicopter, being a president or a minister, and when the pilot says that the situation is no good to perform the flight, they would order him to take off because they have to do something important. So you have to see what has happened. But of course there are different theories coming out. One of the theories were those whether there is like foreign interference, some people were mentioning that israel has close relations with Azerbaijani Republic and they were at the border, but these are just, were at the border, but these arejust, as were at the border, but these are just, as you arejust, as you mention, theories, Conspiracy Theories. But then there are other theories regarding the succession of the iranian leader, Ebrahim Raisi, with 85 years old, still no designated successor for him but there is relations about who would replace him, the hardliners as your previous guest mention, they have been grooming someone to succeed the current leader. Who benefits from him getting killed . Of course we still dont have any confirmation about his situation but we have two be careful about what we are making, what we are saying here about him. We still dont have any confirmation about that, we cannot speculate, but there have been a variety of Conspiracy Theories mentioned on social media. One thing that is important is that senator Chuck Schumer, who is a democratic Majority Leader in the us senate, after talking to intelligence officials, people intelligence officials, people in the Intelligence Community in the Intelligence Community in the Intelligence Community in the us, came out this afternoon, this evening, of course before the Helicopter Crash site was identified, came out and said that there is no evidence of foul play, this doesnt mean that there is no evidence, more investigation is needed but what he said is important in the fact that he said that Intelligence Community believes that it is probably bad weather, and what we know is at the time of the accident there has been heavy rain, heavy fog in that area, and two other helicopters of course were flying with his helicopter that disappeared Sunday Morning in iran, and those two helicopters have managed to arrive, but this one disappeared and it took many, many hours and many conflicting and messy reports coming out of iran that were rejected also published about the situation of the Search And Rescue mission, now what we is that the crash site as been identified, irans news channel, they reported that there is no signs of life from president Ebrahim Raisi or any of the passengers on the helicopter. Of the passengers on the helico ter. , ,. , helicopter. Our correspondent, thank you helicopter. Our correspondent, thank you so helicopter. Our correspondent, thank you so much helicopter. Our correspondent, thank you so much for helicopter. Our correspondent, thank you so much for that thank you so much for that latest reporting. We have a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and an iranian journalist. He explains who Ebraham Raisi is and how he came to power. He was a mid ranking cleric who was essentially in the Supreme Leader � s inner circle who would be one of the closest allies, and he became president after all of the reformist and moderate candidates were pretty much disqualified in an election that many considered and many voters stayed away from. ,. ,. ,. � � and many voters stayed away from. ,. � � , from. You are watching bbc news with our live from. You are watching bbc news with our live coverage from. You are watching bbc news with our live coverage of with our live coverage of the latest coming out of iran. You can also follow all the developments on our live page as well on bbc. Com, and what we can report according to our live page on what we are also saying in our tv coverage as well is, as of around half an hour ago, well is, as of around half an hourago, no sign well is, as of around half an hour ago, no sign of life at the wreckage site. According to Iranian State tv, and that is also reuters reporting that the helicopter was completely burned in the crash, citing iranian official, and visual unfortunately is being reported, all passengers are feared dead. Similarly we also have another post which is quoting ahead irans red crescent society, and they located the wreckage site, and what they said upon arriving there is that the situation is not good, and then in terms of what we are getting from our reporters from bbc persian, according to them, they say he lived in iran in the late 1980s and the days leading up to the official announcement of the debt of the founder of the Islamic Republic, the images of that funeral are etched onto the memory of iranians, and according to our reporter, although we havent got clarity yet, it feels to him that a familiar stage is being set right now as we wait for an official announcement out of iran, and further down as well. The bbc persian Senior Reporter has written about what he calls irans poor aviation safety record, saying that the cause of course of the Helicopter Crash at this stage is not known, but iran has a poor record at least partly the result of decades of us sanctions which have severely weakened its aerial fleet, sanctions which have severely weakened its aerialfleet, and president Ebrahim Raisi was on board a helicopter, and according to state news agencies, and this was a model that was made in the United States, could have been salty around since sold to iran since 1969 revolution, previous ministers of fence and transportability commanders of Tra Nsportability Commanders of the transportability commanders of the armed forces have died in plano at Helicopter Crashes. It to our live page if you want to continue to get up information as well as our network of correspondence and reporters continue to file the very latest. In the meantime, we can nowjoined jason. The Policy Director of united against nuclear iran. Welcome to you. Everybody is grappling and getting their heads around this news right now full of but what do you think world leaders, including lunacy the United States, will be making what we have been hearing in the last a0 minutes or so . It hearing in the last 40 minutes or so . ,. ,. , or so . It is great to be with ou. I or so . It is great To Be With You i think or so . It is great To Be With You. I think that or so . It is great To Be With You. I think that the or so . It is great To Be With You. I think that the news | you. I think that the news appears to indicate that the president of the Islamic Republic and the Foreign Minister are dead after a Helicopter Crash, i think that there are a few takeaway is here. One is that the death will not have a fundamental change in the policy, and that is because the strategic Decision Maker in the system is a Supreme Leader, the president is in implementer, so that is first. Secondly, the president was considered a potential successor to ayatollah ali khamenei, this has the potential to scramble the politics surrounding six session and that will be very dynamic to watch succession. Lastly, there will likely be an election after 50 days, and in the interim, the first Vice President , who previously had an economic conglomerate, and is a trusted lieutenant of the Supreme Leader, he will become the interim president , so those are some takeaway � s. When you talk about the potential for some scrambling when it comes to the dynamics are made to the line of succession for the role of Supreme Leader, this is interesting because even just taking a look at some think pieces from a couple of weeks ago, one saying he will be arounds next leader, not ayatollah khameneis sun, instead regarding succession that Ebrahim Raisi is likely to succeed him than his son. Of course things look very different now in light of what we have been learning in the past few minutes. Talk to us about more for their potential in your words a scrambling in the upper echelons, really consequential echelons of power in iran. Do you think that could lead to some instability . Potentially come yes. I would say ibrahim racy while widely viewed as incompetent as president he was the most experienced bureaucratically in the Islamic Republic� s elite bar none. No other person in the political elite can claim they have presided over two branches of government, the judiciary and the presidency, said the absence of someone with those kind of roles opens up with those kind of roles opens up the field and has increased the competition. As you mentioned, Mustapha Khamenei has always been considered a candidate, but the Supreme Leader did not want it to seem like a monarchy, which was overthrown in 1979. But he has been an extremely powerful presence and his fathers office. There are others that will be given added attention in the weeks and months ahead. We should also touch on the fact Foreign Minister was also believed to have been on that helicopter, and on that point, i do want to ask you when it comes to the nuclear policy, we know that just last week the irani and Foreign Minister met with a head of the International AtomicEnergy Agency and of Course Grossi has long been demanding better access to Irans Nuclear facilities, so on that point, what do you think that could potentially spell for around Nuclear Capabilities . Nuclear capabilities . Irans Nuclear Capabilities . Irans Nuclear ProgrammeNuclear Capabilities . Irans Nuclear Programme and i Nuclear Capabilities . Irans| Nuclear Programme and the Decision Making surrounding it will remain unchanged, as i mentioned earlier, and that is because at the end of the da