Reporting there are no signs of life. Seen at the crash site of a helicopter that was carrying president Ibrahim Raisi and others. News of reeses death comes nearly 15 hours after the helicopter crashed in a remote part of the country during dense fog. Rescue efforts have been hampered by bad weather and tough terrain. A number of other top officials, including the countrys Foreign Minister, were also on board. The chopper was heading back to the countrys capital when it reportedly went down. The crash comes at a fraught moment in the middle east, with War Raging In Gaza and weeks after iran launched a drone and Missile Attack on israel that was in response to a Deadly Strike on its diplomatic compound in damascus, Hardliner Raisi became president in a historically, uncompetitive election in 2021. Irans Supreme Leader is stressing the business of irans government will continue no matter what. Under the iranian constitution. In irans first Vice President takes over if the president dies. Joining us now is the director of professor at the institute for politics and strategy, as well as a former Policy Planning Director at the State Department and Fox News ContributorKiron Skinner, karen, thank you so much for coming on with us early this morning, you know, i want to talk to you about, you know, why does this matter . And what this new leader coming in, how its going to affect the world, and really, the timing of this all, it couldnt be worse timing. And thank you. Ashley, you just set this up so nicely and so precisely, the iran is in crisis, and its put the middle east in crisis. And it has been, moving toward a kind of regional dominant strategy for quite some time. And the Supreme Leader, khamenei, has in, in the now deceased president or had a, his closest ally for the regional strategy for the attack on the west, for the drone strike that just happened that you mentioned against israel, which was unprecedented with the to crush the mass protests that have been taking place, in the past few years in the country for using armed proxies. The houthis, hezbollah, hamas to menace the whole region, so this makes us very nervous. Those of us who are concerned about, global conflict, about the middle east and what it means for the United States as well. Weve lost a president of a country thats tied to the theocracy, on in a big global strategy. Weve lost a Foreign Minister apparently, as well. And were expecting now elections in the middle of all of this within 50 days, given the constitution of the country. Whos next . How do they keep this moving . Does it possibly mean that that the militias and the armed proxies kind of in the confusion of the moment of whats happening in tehran, go their own way and become even more aggressive without the kind of tight grip of the leadership in the country . You know, karen, you talk about the loss of these two leaders, the Foreign Minister, this is, Iranian State media saying that the Foreign Minister was on the chopper. And then, of course, you have the iranian president , raisi, even though those two, especially the president , has to had to, speak directly to and get orders from the Supreme Leader. I mean, this is no feat. People should still take this seriously, that two leaders, are dead. According to Iranian State media and this is cause for concern, is it not . Absolutely. The president was 63 years old, relatively young man compared, to the to the Supreme Leader whos in his 80s and he was seen as someone who could, move to the to that post one day. Hed been the head of the judiciary theory, he was someone that the u. S. And the west had a lot of intelligence on, he was sanctioned by the United States for his role in the mass murders that took place after the long war between iraq and iran, 1988. Weve known about him for a long time, hes known as an oppressor. Hes known to use the secret, security to attack his people, its hard when you have a big shift like this and think about what happened last week, if the u. S and iran were talking in oman about you know, the regional difficulties about the Iranian Nuclear program, which now has taken itself to close to weapons grade, so weve got all these things happening and economic misery in the country, if you look at social media just tonight, critics of the regime in iran are talking about all of these things and womens rights. So theres a lot happening internally in the country that, makes us concerned and, a very dicey, volatile situation within iran. And then you think about the region, a very volatile region thats engulfing the broader middle east, the United States, iran, russia, many parts of the world, the russia, iran relationship, the military, the armaments exchanges. Thats significant. Iran is part of almost every major geopolitical conflict that involves the great powers at this point. And of course, israel. Yeah i mean, if you look at the News Releases from places like russia saying theres all Hands On Deck with anything that that iran might need and help and in finding him. And this was obviously before the crash site was found. And then you compare it to that of the United States, where they just said theyre monitoring the situation, tells you really all you need to know about the relationship between russia and iran and then the United States and iran, any shock to you . The iranian government has been so slow to release information and get word out. You know, i dont see that as, as, as a major issue or the big issue of the moment. Frankly, i think in the fog of this conflict, you know, of the helicopter crash, that, you know, its often difficult to get the right information. The Weather Patterns appear to have been very poor, that that there was a hard landing, as we understand. I dont think thats The Big Story here. I think the story is weve got a volatile country thats had an ambitious, grand strategy, has upped the attack on israel at an unprecedented level, just a month ago. And here we are with a transition of power. And that, to me, is not the greatest cocktail for stability and so i think weve got to take this extremely seriously. Iran, you know, the term has been used a lot. Its been in a Shadow War Or Twilight war with many of its neighbors and with the United States for a long time. And what does that mean, really, in the background, since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, weve been in a Military Conflict in one way or another with the tehran government, and its not been the explicit hit, you know, World War Two type war. Some of the other conflicts weve been in always in the background, always in the shadows, often at night. And here we are with a potential, you know, change in leadership. And someone that was, as i said, as a successor, to the Supreme Leader and that, you know, gives us a lot of pause. Who are we dealing with next . The negotiations that are taking place regionally that the u. S. Is involved in, that israel is involved with. Where do those stand in light of this . You know, apparent, shift in regime that will happen in the next month or so . Yeah. The first person ive spoken to that has said that its kind of put a, a date stamp on it within the next month or so. So well see when this all transpires, kiran, thank you so much for getting up and staying up with us early on Monday Morning to talk about this. Always great to get your take and your expertise on this. We appreciate your time. Joining us now is behnam ben taleblu. He is a Senior Fellow at the foundation for defense of democracies. And ben, i know we spoke to you, about 30 minutes ago or so and im not quite sure if you heard our previous guest and what she had to say, but she did bring up a good point about why iran matters. And you know, how this new leader coming in should make everybody weary across the world . Whats your take on that . You know, shes absolutely right. And its a pleasure to be back with you so soon. In essence, i remember when Doctor Skinner was leading Policy Planning at a time of increasing u. S. Sanctions, pressure against the government of the islamic republic. And when the designation campaign against the Supreme Leader of irans office, as well as raisi , was well underway in 2019, everything that Doctor Skinner was talking about, about irans larger enmity with the u. S, its Shadow War Vis A vis the u. S. And its global strategy to integrate itself with americas competitors. So today, iran is closer than ever, not just with, you know, regional adversaries of the u. S, but global adversaries of the u. S, like the russians, with whom iran is tightening political and military ties with, as well as the chinese, whom the iranians are tightening economic and political ties with as well. So all of this has implications not necessarily today, because iran, unfortunately, continues to get away with murder, quite literally in the middle east today, really, since october 7th, but also since 1979. But for the long run, Great Power Competition prospects that the u. S. Will have against, its nearpeer competitors in moscow and in beijing, as far as the relationship between rouhani and the Supreme Leader, do you know anything about that . Was it a strong relationship . It is indeed believed to have been a strong relationship, if you look closely, since at least 2005, since the election or Quote Unquote, election, i should say, of then president ahmadinejad, irans former Polyester CladHolocaust Denier in chief, as i like to say, he has been the Supreme Leader of iran, has been orchestrating the ultra hard right shift in the regimes politics. As you may remember, before that, there was the Reform Movement in iran. That was something that was politically and militarily crushed by the state against the society. And the Supreme Leader has really taken the mask off. And since 2005, been contracting the political space, the room for maneuver, the acceptable boundaries of public space in that country, making it smaller and smaller and smaller and moving it further and further and further to the authoritarian and islamist right inside of that already limited political space in that country. And raisi is the ultimate manifestation of that. He is someone that was selected again to become president in 2021, and is largely believed to have been on the shortlist to become irans most powerful person after the regimes current octogenarian Supreme Leader passes away. And as i mentioned before, with the passing of raisi, now that shortlist as to who will become irans next most powerful person, just got a lot shorter, you know, and kyron, she was also talking about the crisis in, in the middle east and how its now become more difficult. But, i want to hear your thoughts on the drone strike that happened not long ago on israel. And really the timing of all of this. Because, you know, the more we talk about this and the more information we get coming in and talking to the experts about this, i mean, this is something that the world should be concerned about. Thats right. Because in general, hypothetically pretend none of the tit for tat that we saw between israel and iran in the month of april last month, hypothetically. Pretend that didnt happen. Pretend october 7th and the Israel Gaza War and the multifront war by irans proxies against israel in the region was not happening. The reason this matters, even pretend none of that was happening is because the regime in iran is so unpopular that it cannot afford exogenous or, sudden surprise shocks to its system. Thats why every president since 1982 has served two terms, because the government doesnt like to have these kind of sporadic or surprise elections. The fact that there will be one in about 50 days, means that the regime is going to have to find a way to tightly manage it, tightly control it, push its own political elite to the forefront. Again, the regime doesnt like, again, to have to continue to is actually quite poor, i should say. Its continuing to stage, manage and feign popular interest when it knows that its legitimacy is at an all time low inside that country. And when you mentioned earlier in the lead, that of course, raisi was Quote Unquote elected, i should say, again, selected with the lowest ever recorded president ial turnout in the history of the government of the islamic republic. Thats the proof in the pudding. For so long, these guys used to point to their stage managed, tightly scripted selection processes as a way to deflect pressure and feign legitimacy. Now they cant do that, and now theyre about to have to expose bare their underbelly to the world as to how unpopular they are. That when you add on the gaza conflict and the april tit for tat, this is a regime that feels empowered in the region, and its empowered because its had an Ultra Hard Line political consolidation inside the country. So theres no dissenters in the Corridors Of Power in the islamic republic. And that nonexistent room for dissent just got a little bit smaller, a little bit tighter. Right and obviously all eyes are going to be on them in the coming weeks and months, even more so than before. But how do you think the iranian people feel about this . You know, one need have only today within the past 12 to 14 hours, looked only to social media to see multiple, multiple, not just memes, jokes, solicitations by the iranian people, calling for indeed, the news of rayces passing to be confirmed. This is a regime that is deeply, deeply unpopular within the iranian street. And as youve seen within every different boom and bust cycle of protests from the streets against the state since 2017, the population has taken every opportunity, whether it was an economic crisis, political crisis, environmental crisis, social issue, Foreign Policy issue, to show how different it is from the ruling elite in tehran, how much closer their views and values and interests are with the west, and in particular with americans, than the rest in the region, as well as in the rest of the Governing Body inside the islamic republic. So ultimately, the iranian people found raisi to be deeply reprehensible, deeply anathema to who they are and the culture and civilization that they have, so it is not at all shocking that youve seen the regime begin to slowly deploy security forces. Its not all shocking that you see on social media people felicitating or celebrating. Youve even seen some reports of fireworks in different parts of tehran, in anticipation of the news of his passing. So again, this is a sharp contrast between state and society. And the regime is trying to tamp down this contrast, both on the street and on social media. You know, what are the chances that that the iranian people get somebody a leader, get somebody that is a leader that they want in office . I mean, because it doesnt seem like they get too much of what they want. Unfortunately, it seems like they get not much at all of what they want. If you look at at this, you know, there may have been an argument maybe 30 years ago that, you know, iranians were going to settle for the least bad option. But thats not at all the case. Now, when you look at whos been governing this country for the past 20, 30 years, i can say now with full confidence that so long as there is an islamic republic, so long as khamenei is at the helm, you will have a structure of power in that country. In tehran that is 180 degrees opposite the views, values and interests of the iranian people. And again, dont take it from me, take it from the slogans heard in multiple rounds of Protest Slogans from 2017 to present that are not talking about reform, theyre talking about wholesale change, and theyre not playing this game that the regime used to play between principalists or or reformers. Remember in 2018, the iranian people were chanting reformist principalists. The jig is up in the same year they chanted outside of out of iranian government buildings in front of official institutions, saying the enemy is here. They lie when they say the enemy is in america. So again, this is a population that has not been cowered despite the regimes, again, repressive, brutal use of force against them, whether it was on the street or in cyberspace. I think it was you i was speaking to earlier about this, on online, it was heavily, you know, seen by a lot of people that the, the population they were talking about revolting, if this came out that that he was dead. I mean, what what do you foresee happening with the population and with the people, the iranian people, after all of this . I know its hard to its hard t