Government immediately calling an urgent meeting russias invasion, and America Struggle to defend the west. David good morning. Im very grateful to have you here this morning at big picture. Lets talk about who this man was, what he meant in the region, and what this turn of events means for all of the tensions that have been swirling in recent months well good morning casey obviously, a great tragedy that this helicopter went down and it was pretty clear by late yesterday, just from the silence of the iranian officials that they had very little hope that there would be any survivors raisi himself was a very conservative cleric who came in very close to the Supreme Leader of a country, the president of garan is the number two official. Obviously, the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini is this the most important decisionmaker, but the two were very close and he came in to basically run the crackdowns that we have seen on dissent and human rights. He accelerated the support for Terror Groups including hamas hezbollah the arming of the houthis he became made the decisions along with the ayatollah to support russia in the war in ukraine. And of course iran has now become a major supplier of the drones at many other Weapons Systems that theyre using. And he has accelerated but not put into overdrive. The Nuclear Program so the question for the United States now is, does the ailing Ayatollah Khomeini, whose mao in his mid 80s choose somebody or designee, there will be an election, but its obviously not an open one. Choose somebody who will follow them that same path david, what do you make of the fact that we seem to be hearing from state tv that this was something that should be blamed on the weather, that there is no sense at this time that there were there was foul play. Were hearing that from the majority leader, Chuck Schumer a member of the gang hang of it here at home. But that also seems to be the story that is being pushed forward on Iranian State tv, which is something are other National Security analysts have noted as remarkable an important, what is your view of it . If remarkable, because for all of the steps that i mentioned before, one of the things that we noticed about president rice, hes government is that they didnt want to tip in which emma war with the United States, with israel. They understood what the impact of that would be even last week there were some indirect costs in qatar with United States just to make sure that this didnt all spin out of control. So as soon as this helicopter went down, obviously, the country was right for all kinds of Conspiracy Theories and im sure we well, here are some particularly from the right wingers in iran, but all you had to do was look at the photos of the rescuers trying to make it up that mountain. Sayyed in this pea soup of a fog. And it seemed pretty clear that whether could well and had a lot to do with this. Yeah. David standby for me for a second. I want to bring in cnns frederik pleitgen, who is live for us. Hes actually reporting on assignment in poland right now, but fred, youve traveled to iran recently and i wanted to get your perspective on these unfold Holding Events and also kind of just check in with the latest on what we know at this hour by their case. But we know that right now what the iranians are centered, i do. Its trying to get the bodies away from that crash site and bring them back to first tabriz, which is where that chopper actually was supposed to be going. And then of course, tehran and for any sort of other sort of Burial Ceremonies that are going to take place in the next couple of days. And i think on the one hand, of course, you have the whole aftermath of this crash, which of course was a huge shock to the whole Power Structure of the islamic republic. But then also you have the leadership of the islamic republic, namely the Supreme Leader himself already thinking about how things move along now in the future, one of the things i thought was quite interesting because this chopper essentially disappeared off all the radars that pretty much noon time one p. M. Yesterday, it took them a long time to get to that crash site. David was talking about the atrocious Weather Conditions out there. And then of course also the fact that its mountainous, very difficult terrain as well. But you already had prim, leader coming out, chairing a meeting of a rons National Security council and there on the one hand, of course, back at that point in time saying that everybody was praying that those onboard the helicopter would serve would be found alive, but then also already looking towards the future and saying, look, Everybody Needs to be assured that there is not going to be a break getting the government that all the Government Services and everything will continue as they had before that theres going to be that continuity. I think one of the things that the leadership right now is trying to project is stability in the wake of all of this, because i think theres two points to as david was talking about and hes absolutely right. Of course, president raisi is the second most important figure in the country the most, the second most important decision maker, but we also have to keep in mind that the Foreign Minister of the country, Hossein Amirabdollahian was also killed on that crash and he was absolutely instrumental to forming around Foreign Policy very often, of course, at odds and against the United States, but definitely something someone who had the reins of irans Foreign Ministry. And of course, also someone who was very important in the past couple of weeks, as we almost got to that war between israel and iran, which of course could have been catastrophic for that region. So you not only have the head of government of iran being killed, but also pretty much the architect of the current Foreign Policy of iran as well. But wake of that, the iranians, of course right now trying to project that stability while at the same time, i know from ontheground that of course, the whole country has put into a morning mode. Now you have black flags popping up pretty much everywhere in one of the most important places its actually in a place called mosab in the east of iran, which is of course one of those spiritual centers, but also is essentially the home area of Ebrahim Raisi, where he comes from religiously and of course, where he comes from politically as well, pc all right, for him to liken for us, fred, thanks for scrambling to get up for us and david sanger, i really appreciate you joining us here to kick off the show as well. Thanks to you both all right. 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He found great products, uploaded new art, and had boxes sent to all the shops the baking aisle this before in the stanley cup their glob wipers on the line right now two now, the distractions good thats a serious drop still feel sky high all right, welcome back. Were going to dive right back into our Breaking News this morning. The death of iranian president Ebrahim Raisi. He was one of nine people onboard a helicopter that crashed over the weekend in a remote part of the country. Iran reports there were no survivors. Matthew chance looks back on raisis leaf let me she was a staunch critic of the west, even seen as a possible successor to the iranian Supreme LeaderBehemoth Racy came to paris in 2021 winning an election with a record low turnout. And for three years enacting policies that made him a polarizing figure at home and abroad his presidency saw a dangerous escalation and tensions with israel in april, he supported a major attack against the country in an unprecedented response to a suspected israeli strike on the iranian consulate in syria, which killed several iranian commanders throughout races presidency, it ran pressed ahead with its Nuclear Program violating an international agreement. While blaming the us for withdrawing. And european states for not living up to their end of the deal to run also supplied lethal Drone Technology to russia, fueling the conflict in ukraine allowing moscow to strike deep behind the front lines meanwhile, At Home Raisi oversaw a brutal crackdown on dissent, Suppressing A 2022 uprising sparked by the death of mahsa amini, a young woman in the custody of a religious morality please. It all cemented his status as a loyal hard liner, potentially in line. Does exceed irans 85yearold Supreme Leader, president races sudden death plunges that succession into chaos racy died along with his minister of Foreign Affairs has seen a Mere Abdullah Rayon the top iranian diplomat took office in 2021. After a long career with the Foreign Ministry all right, that was cnns Matthew Chance for us. I want over here in panel and now elliot williams, a cnn legal analyst, former federal prosecutor, Stephen Collinson, as cnn politics senior reporter. Matt gorman is here. Hes former advisor for tim scotts president ial campaign and karen phineas, cnn political commentator i want to start with you, steven. You are the man who looks at The Big Picture here for us and right now, what we have coming in our statements from hamas morning, this man has below morning this man, the russians, morning this man, and of course, we heard Matthews Reporting about the way he approached the country, the death of mahsa amini in particular Galvanizing The Streets of iran how do you see his death impacting broadly what this has been an incredibly tense period of time in the region. And with the United States i think those messages explain the axis of pao that iran has created not just throughout the middle east, but its closer relationships now with russia the way its factored into since campaign in ukraine with the supply of drones and everything like this. I dont think we should expect any change to irans policy domestically or internationally. Or indeed to american policy razi was a very repressive figure domestically, as you pointed out, the lesson of history is that when there is Political Uncertainty and around that leads to more repression. Having said that this has been a time of great upheaval. You talked about those demonstrations. There was an Islamic StateTerror Attack on iran, which was a great embarrassment to the regime very recently, we had this shooting war unprecedented between israel and iran and this will factor in, i think to the succession of the Supreme Leader, ayatollah. Ayatollah, how many razi was seen as a potential successor that was going to happen anyway, the Ayatollahs 85 is very sickly this could bring all that forward and we can see yeah a frontloading of that succession crisis. Right. And you mentioned the continuation and clearly they seem to be trying to send that message by me even in the fact that theyre acknowledging, it seems the weather was the cause of this. That they do want to continue on this track. I think its worth reminding everyone, especially as we are confronting the ongoing war in israel and gaza that raisi was actually a holocaust denier. This is what he told cbs back its september of 20 i believe lets watch this do you believe the holocaust happened . Thats six million jews were slaughtered move any mass, any atari he mass eddie, look historical events should be investigated by researchers and historians initial on all, um, would you a tough up . While they should, there are some signs that had happened if so, they should allow it to be investigated and researched. Ill correct myself. This was september 2022. So an extraordinary recent ive set of comments where he says there that they should allow it to be investigated. Again, hes talking about the holocaust. This is what the us Holocaust Memorial said at the time the iranian government has a long history of d9 in the holocaust and delegitimising the state of israel, putting the regimes Unadulterated Antisemitism on full display history teaches us the dangerous if ignoring antisemitism from any corner. But coming from a Head Of State is concerning and needs to be universally condemned elliot williams, i mean, big picture as we are. I asked, even know if theyre trying to continue all of this. I mean, this is the world in which we are living as these very present tensions continue to royalist, i guess the question i have in picking up, i dont know if any of this has come across your reporting, steven, but in terms of uncertainty, its rare that there is ahead of government who dies in office. It doesnt happen that often. They often seem to expire when their time is up and what are we hearing or understanding about a Leadership Vacuum at a influential country in the middle east. I think the key here is that the Supreme Leader has all the power. Ultimately in terms of Foreign Policy and domestic policy. He orchestrated the rise of razi, the last arena election by a standard of elections that are very, very repressive and very closed. This was even more so. So the power is still there, but the point the succession is unclea