Learn facts on capitol hill well, hello, and welcome into our view is joining us from Around The World. Im Becky Anderson. It is monday, may the 20, nine in am here in london. It is 11 30 a. M. In iran, where the government is expressing condolences over the deaths of president Ebrahim Raisi the countrys president , and the Foreign Minister and seven others in a helicopter, crash, rescuers are trans sparing the bodies of those killed from the crash side. And irans East Azerbaijan province to the city of tabriz. Iranian Officials Say the Helicopter Ran into trouble amid heavy fog on sunday afternoon. At the time of the crash, there were lowhanging clouds and Cool Temperatures across the region with fog settling in as the sunset will images of the Crash Site Show the remote mountainous area where the aircraft went down. The president and other officials have been attending and Inauguration Ceremony of a new near the border with azerbaijan ive and watson following action from around the region. First, its bringing up Paula Hancocks with more from abu dhabi and were just hearing from the spokesperson of the Iranian Guardians Council with a response to this news portal, whats being said . Well, becky, the Guardian Council has said that they want to share their condolences, saying it is a great loss for the iranian nation. Also saying that what has happened is a tragedy. But really saying what we have been hearing consistently from iranian officials that this will not be disruptive. Now, its something that we heard earlier from the Supreme Leader himself. This was before the confirmation that the president , the Foreign Minister, and seven others had been killed in that Helicopter Crash. Saying that there would be no disruption. It really is a message of stability that the iranian government wants to project at this point, we also heard from the iranian government expressing their condolences over the deaths, saying that president raisi was hard and tireless now we know that this all happened around about 1 30 in the afternoon on sunday. That is when we received the first reports that there was a missing helicopter. Now the president and Foreign Minister, were in a convoy of three helicopters two of the helicopters landed safely, but theres did not we understand now it did crash into the side of a mountain in an area which is really very inhospitable. It is a very difficult to rain which has been evidenced by the fact that it took rescue teams some 16 i was to be able to find the area where this helicopter went down. Now we also know of the conditions, as you mentioned, there are during this Helicopter Flight that there was low hanging cloud fog made visibility very challenging in fact, as soon as rescue teams started there curations, they said that they were unable to put a Helicopter Up to try and find the location of the crash because it was simply too dangerous. So of course that will be raising some questions as to why the president was in the air at this point, as well. There has been an urgent Cabinet Meeting in iran. We saw the seat where president raisi usually sits, had a black sash across it in morning. Were seeing Television Presenters wearing black. There are inbetween all the News Bulletins that we are seeing islamic prayers being broadcast. Weve also heard that there will be timing and details of the Morning Procession announced in the very near future, were really is a sense of the morning already beginning in around becky well, i thank you. Let me bring in ivan watson you worked for many years, the Turkish Bureau chief, the bureij chief and in turkey for cnn, youre very familiar with not just a region where theres chopper went down with the internal machinations of iranian politics ivan is paula pointed out the Supreme Leader, the Guardian Council, very quick to underscore there will be no disruption to what goes on in iran as a result of the death of the president and the Foreign Minister and there will be an enormous amount of work going on behind the scenes to ensure that there is no disruption and some stability. What happens next . Well i. Mean there is a transition that paula has been mentioning, but part of this is because iran has been through a bumpy number of years. Its been facing economic challenges Environmental Issues with reports of water shortages. Its had an uprising in the last two years that was violently crust pushed with reports of hundreds of protesters being killed, not to mention arrests and executions as well. And the ongoing tension with irans arch enemy, israel, which resulted in exchange of direct fire between these two governments. Just last month, breaking Press Students in the tents and oftentimes deadly history between those two regional rivals so the iranian government has come out with the statement from the Supreme Leader on sunday, ali common ies saying, hey, were going to move forward as i want you to pray for the missing president that was before confirmation. That all the passengers aboard the helicopter had died. And now with statements that yes, there will be continuity. There will not be instability, that there is a system in place to set up for now, the Vice President taking over and then for a transition period to another round of elections, the regional Reaction Becky has been an outpouring of condolences for Ebrahim Raisi for irans Foreign Minister, as well as the rest of their entourage particularly from iran allies. So you have the who ties of yemen, whove come out with condolences. You have the palestinian militant group, hamas, of course, entrenched in this grinding and very deadly conflict in gaza that has come out and expressed sympathies and condolence and hezbollah in lebanon, which is currently engaged in ongoing battles across the border with israel, has come out with its own statement, calling it raisi his eminence, The Martyr President , calling him a big brother, a strong supporter, and a staunch defender of hezbollahs issues. And the nations issues most notably russell m and palestine and a protector of the Resistance Movement and the Prime Minister of lebanon has come out declaring three days of mourning in that country as well though Russian Foreign ministry, minister expressing morning and then irans neighbor to the west, the turkey, which isnt always lockstep in allegiance, in alliance with iran, has expressed sympathy and even lent a drone for that frantic Recovery Research sorry, Rescue Effort when for some 16 in hours, the iranian government could not find their own president after his helicopter went down in this crash good to have you. Thank you. Lets pick up where it left off with aly vance, who is the International Crisis groups iran project director, joining us via skype from doha qatar. Today, ali, good to have you lets just pick up there. You heard the response regionally from a number of key player is as it were to the news of the death of the iranian president and indeed the Foreign Minister, what do you make of what we are hearing its, great to be, with you. Again. Big key. Look, the reality is that the sudden demise of an iranian president is obviously a shock to the region that is experiencing, experiencing an extreme level of turmoil and puts everybody in a position that they have to quickly react and figure out what this means. But the reality is the presence of Paracentral Transitions in iran are often either overestimated or downplayed overestimated because there is a lot of value attached to the tone that the president sets for the country. The fact that his team carry out the Systems Instructions in terms of foreign or regional policy. But also downplayed the because at the end of the day hes not the ultimate Decision Maker and especially president racy, i think went further than most of his predecessors in this empowering the Executive Branch and iran just remind is what does happen next. Well Vice President mossburg, who was very close to the Supreme Leader and the revolutionary guards, will take over as of today and is in charge along with the head of the judiciary and the parliament to organize an election in the next fifth 50 days. That means candidates would have to announce that theyre running. This qualification or vetting process would have to happen through the Guardian Council, which is in charge of this. And election has to be organized, which at this moment that the regime is suffering from a crisis of legitimacy at home its a. Very risky thing for them to do mass mobilization. By definition, is going to be quite a concern for Islamic Republic at this moment in time. And then once the president is in office, he has to put together his cabinet and start running the country. All of that means in the next few weeks, iran and well be very much internally focused the National Security filed and indeed the ideological direction of the Islamic Republic, not set by the president. So the impact for decisionmakers in washington in tel aviv and jerusalem in london, and capitals Around The World will not be as significant, perhaps says, surely the passing of for example, the Supreme Leader who have courses at five years old, there is a succession behind the scenes. At present as two what happens next with regard that very important Leadership Position ali what do we know well, this is exactly vicki, right . Youre putting your finger on the most important uncertainty that race is passing is going to create. Now, im not privy to the conversations and i think most people who speculate or not a wetter ac was indeed candidate that the system was grooming for succeeding they 85yearold Supreme Leader. But that was a widespread belief and his sudden removal from the stage basically creates a vacuum and creates a jockeying for that position. In 1981. In fact, the current Supreme Leader, ayatollah harmony, became president when his predecessor was killed in a bombing in the Capital City Of Tehran and so it is quite possible that the system would want someone with the profile of racy it was very loyal to the Supreme Leader and extremely subservient to him as well to be elected. So that he could potentially also be the successor to the current Supreme Leader but its also possible that the successor would not be a cleric and in that case, the system would have elsewhere for a successor but at the end of the day, its not difficult to find people in that system who fit that profile of basically being a yes man to the current Supreme Leader so that he can make sure that he could preserve his legacy and his vision for the future of the Islamic Republic and of course, his son much taba khymani is certainly one of the names thrown in as a potential for that succession. Going forward, although a hereditary succession, of course, was at the heart of khameneis problem. Certainly, one of the one of the problems that he had with the rule of the show beforehand, ally, i think its important then that while we have underscored how the demise, the death of the president and Foreign Minister will not be hugely impactful. On National Security, on Foreign Policy and consequently iran influence on the region and Around The World. Where do things stand at present . Obviously incredibly complex and complicated and worrying period of instability in the region and as yet no clear direction with regard the iran nuclear file, where do things stand . A look picky last week, we know that iran and the us had indirect conversations in oman. The man who was leading those negotiations was not Foreign Minister abdullah lian, who was killed in this crash. It was his deputy i reebok every kenny who is also widely seen. It as a potential successor so Foreign Minister ended up the line. So again, i think those conversations are likely to continue because both iran and the United States do not want further escalation, do not want the Nuclear Issue to lead to a military conflict. And so they would both try to figure out a way of kicking the can down the road until they know who the next us president is the same to a certain extent applies to whats happening in the region. But there is more uncertainty there, and there are actors over which iran and the us do not have full control for instance, you might have the houthis who are continuing to conduct attacks in the red sea, target, a commercial or worship that would result in a high number of casualties or you might have a situation in which tensions between israel and hezbollah that are growing via the de, again, get out of control. And in those circumstances, the bets are off. I think that iranian Political Leadership at a time that it believes because of the vacuum that has been created at the top of the Executive Branch feels vulnerable, does not want to signal weakness and is likely to react to any testing of its boundaries in a much more aggressive and assertive way. So we might see a repeat of what happened last month between iran and israel. But in a much more perilous manner if tensions come to a head in the next few weeks its good to have you ally, you were speaking to the yemen group, the houthis, iranbacked as far as many, many people are concerned. We have at a response from the houthis, from hamas and from hezbollah as well on the houthi side, our deepest condolences to the uranium people and the iranian leadership, the uranium people will continue to have leaders loyal to their people. Our houthis said from hezbollah. And we do know that lebanon has announced three days of mourning. Hezbollah specifically underscoring what we have heard from the Supreme Leader. Theyre from houthi. And indeed from hamas that this the passing of the president and the Foreign Minister according to the Supreme Leader and others. Now, a very much of supporting that narrative, that there will be no disruption to the workings of iran as a result of these two deaths, we will see alvarez. Thank you much more ahead. This our on our Breaking News out of iran, the death of president Ebrahim Raisi and the countrys Foreign Minister in a Helicopter Crash can later i look at whats expected this weekend, Donald Trumps criminal hush money trial, his former attorney back on the stand today. Assignments are going off. The tornado so here you cannot outs one this you cannot outrun it really is a terrifying experience. It is the stuff of Night Marriage you could hear it and feel it. Nick eyes and my throat. Were burning. Im thinking im going to die and i thought that was it first. We have schreiber premieres june 2 had nine on why is it so hard to find a good pro to work on your house . What i look forward to someone who is reliable is true to their word and skillful. 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