Netanyahu, the Israeli Defense minister gallant, and three hamas leaders. We will get the latest. But first, to iran. The iranian president and the foreign minister are killed in a Helicopter Crash, along with other officials. We will get the latest. Then to a london court where the British High Court has ruled wikileaks founder Julian Assange can appeal his extradition to the United States. We will go outside the British High Court. And President Biden addresses the graduating class of Morehouse College. Some students turned their back on the president to protest his policies on gaza. We will speak with two morehouse professors. One turned her back on biden and another held up a flag of the democratic republic of congo behind President Biden as he gave his address. At a more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Iran has declared five days of mourning after president Ebrahim Raisi and foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian died sunday in a Helicopter Crash near the border with azerbaijan. The crash occurred amid heavy fog in a mountainous area. It took rescue workers more than 16 hours to reach the crash site. Raisi had led iran since 2021 and was widely seen as a possible successor to irans Supreme Leader ali khamenei, who is 85 years old. Iran will hold president ial elections in 50 days. Vice president Mohammad Mokhber has taken over as interim president. Well have more on iran after headlines. The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal court has announced he is seeking arrest warrants for israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense minister yoav gallant, and three leaders of hamas. In an interview today with cnns christiane amanpour, prosecutor karim khan detailed the charges against netanyahu. We applied for warrants. The judges must determine whether or not to issue them but we have applied today and will apply for once for the Prime Minister netanyahu and also ministry of defense gallant for crimes causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict. Amy karim khan said the charges against the hamas leaders include extermination, murder, taking of hostages, rape and Sexual Assault in detention. A panel of International Criminal court judges will now decide if arrest warrants should be issued. In gaza, israel is threatening to expand its attack on the Southern City of rafah despite Widespread International condemnation. The u. N. Estimates 800,000 palestinians have fled rafah in recent weeks, many of the displaced had sought refuge in rafah after losing their homes in other parts of gaza. Over the weekend, israeli strikes on the nuseirat refugee camp killed at least 32 people including 10 women and seven children. The overall official death toll has topped 35,400. Across gaza palestinians say they have no safe place to go. Are these americas gifts for us . Instead of pitying us and telling israel to stop, that is injustice, where are the arab leaders . Where are the Muslim Leaders . Where are the men of islam . Where are they to see our conditions . Let them stop the killing. Let them stop the destruction. Our houses have been destroyed. People cannot find a house to live in. People are displaced in tents. What is happening to us it is enough. Someone needs to mercy. No one has humanity. Amy israeli is also laying siege to alawda hospital in north gaza. Doctors without borders reports the hospital has run out of drinking water. On sunday, the u. N. s top humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said israels stranglehold on aid reaching gaza is having apocalyptic consequences. Israeli Opposition Leader benny gantz has threatened to leave the Coalition Government unless israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu develops a plan for a postwar gaza. This comes as protests continue in israel calling for a ceasefire and a deal to release all of the remaining hostages held in gaza. On sunday, President Biden addressed the graduating class of Morehouse College, the prestigious black college whose alum include dr. Martin luther king, jr. Some students turned their backs on the president to protest his gaza policies. Morehouse valedictorian deangelo fletcher, who had a palestinian flag affixed to his graduation cap, called for a permanent ceasefire in gaza. It is my stance as a morehouse man, nay as a human being, to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the gaza strip. Amy President Biden was seen on video applauding deangelo fletchers call for a permanent ceasefire. During his speech, biden also called for an immediate ceasefire. Bidens speech came just days after his administration notified congress of its plans to send another 1 billion in arms to israel, including tank ammunition, mortars, and tactical vehicles. Later on sunday, protesters gathered in detroit where President Biden addressed an naacp dinner. We will speak to two morehouse professors later in the program. One turned her back on biden and another held up a flag of the democratic republic of congo behind the president as he spoke. In news from britain, the high court in london has granted permission for wikileaks founder julians to appeal his tradition to the u. S. Assange did not attend the hearing due to health reasons. Assange has been held in Londons Belmarsh prison for five years. If extradited and convicted in the u. S. , he faces up to 175 years in prison. Well have more on this later in the show. Authorities in the democratic republic of congo say they thwarted an attempted coup in the capital kinshasa on sunday. Armed men attempted to storm the president ial palace as well as the home of a key lawmaker in an attempt to overthrow president felix tshisekedis government. Around 50 people involved in the plot were arrested including three u. S. Citizens. The apparent coup leader, congolese opposition figure christian malanga, died during the attack. Malanga had lived in exile in the United States for over a decade. In taiwan, new president william lai delivered a defiant message to china after he was sworn in earlier today. I also want to urge china to stop intimidating taiwan politically and militarily and to take on a Global Responsibility with taiwan to work hard on maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and the region, to ensure the world is without the fear of war breaking out. Amy in response, beijing said, Taiwan Independence is a dead end. China also announced sanctions against a number of u. S. Companies involved in arms sales to taiwan. In the dominican republic, president Luis Abinader easily won a second term in sundays election. Abinader has taken a hardline approach to immigration, increasing raids and deportations of haitians and shutting down migration from haiti despite the dire humanitarian situation in the neighboring country. He also began construction of a 100mile concrete wall along the border with haiti. At least 11 people died in Ukraines Kharkiv region on sunday as russia intensifies its offensive in northeastern ukraine. This comes as ukrainian officials have asked the United States and other nato nations to send troops to ukraine to help train new recruits. On thursday, the chair of the u. S. Joint chiefs of staff general Charles Brown hinted such a plan is being discussed. He said, well get there eventually, over time. In alabama, workers at two mercedesbenz plants voted against joining the united auto workers. 56 of the nearly 5000 votes rejected the uaw after a massive Pressure Campaign by mercedes and republican leaders, including alabama governor kay ivey. Uaw president shawn fain said the result will not deter the union in its bid to organize the south. I am not scared at all. I believe workers want unions. Amy in california, the man who broke into the home of thenhouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi and attacked her 82yearold husband with a hammer has been sentenced to a total of 30 years in prison. During the trial, david depape admitted he wanted to take nancy pelosi hostage to interrogate her, but she wasnt home when he broke into her home just before the 2022 midterm elections. And in texas, the death toll from last weeks storms in houston rose to seven people. Some 240,000 customers still did not have electricity by sunday evening as the area now contends with a heatwave, with temperatures topping 90 degrees President Biden has issued a sunday. Disaster declaration for the region. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The iranian president Ebrahim Raisi and if minister amirabdollahian were killed on sunday in a Helicopter Crash along with six other officials and crew. State tv gave no immediate cause of the crash after wreckage of the helicopter was found early monday in a mountainous region of the countrys northwest following an overnight search in blizzard conditions. Raisi was returning from irans border with azerbaijan to inaugurate a dam when the crash happened. Irans Supreme LeaderAyatollah Ali Khamenei declared five days of public mourning and announced that Vice PresidentMohammad Mokhber would serve as the irans acting president until elections are held. The 63yearold raisi was elected in 2021 in a vote that saw the lowest percentage turnout in the Islamic Republics history after major opposition candidates were disqualified from taking part. For more, we are joined by trita parsi, executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute for responsible statecraft. Welcome to democracy now if you can just respond to what has taken place in iran . Talk about the death of the president and the foreign minister and what this means. This is a major event in iran , but the president and foreign minister and several others have died. It is something that is coming at a time when the iranians already have an extremely low Participation Rate in the elections and now theyre going to have to have elections within the next 60 days. As you pointed out, the only reason why raisi got elected the first place is the majority of the population refused to partake in the elections because of the fact the conservatives had shrunk the political spectrum in iran and refused other candidates who are not conservatives to be able to run in the first place. Now the regime is going to have to try to whip up and normalize voters and excitement for an election within 50 days and make a decision. Is it going to allow other candidates to stand or continue on the path it set out in which these elections increasingly become rather meaningless in terms of actual democratic value . This is coming at a time when neither regime is placing potential crisis, including the secession that will take days within a couple of years when the current Supreme Leader ali khamenei passes away. Raisi was considered to be a potential candidate for that position but, obviously, no longer. Amy if you could talk about raisis record, who he was, how close he was to the Supreme Leader . And also the foreign minister . So raisi was not particularly well known until a couple of years ago because he spent most of his time in the judiciary, clergy. He is related by marriage to the Supreme Leader. Frankly, has not been particularly impactful president or influential president. At the end of the day, he seems to have been selected precisely because he was compliant to the Supreme Leader, because he would not do it freezes deaf previous president s have done which is challenge the hardline establishment. If we were to take a look at what are the main policies he has been it is difficult to identify. Imagine if this had happened to their previous president during the height of the nuclear negotiations. It would have thrown a major wrench into those negotiations precisely because was such a strong force in resolving the diplomatic issue. Theres no equivalent to that with raisi of such a policy or any major policy in which his absence will be particularly felt. If anything, most of the current policies of the Islamic Republic are likely going to continue unabated even with him being absent. Amy we dont know the exact cause of the crash come although the weather has certainly been talked about. I what to read this from ap, iran flies a variety of helicopters in the country but International Sanctions make it difficult to obtain parts for them. Its military air fleet also largely dates back to before the 1979 islamic revolution. Irna published images it described as raisi taking off in what resembled a bell helicopter, with a blueandwhite paint scheme previously seen in published photographs. And you have the Washington Post saying iran hampered by sanctions getting parts for government aircraft has suffered several highprofile Helicopter Crashes in recent years. Talk about this. Few countries have as many aircraft and Helicopter Crashes as iran, which to a large extent is due to the fact the u. S. Ancients have prevented them from being able to service those planes i get airports for them. In fact, as part of the nuclear deal, the iranians were going to buy a large number of boeing aircraft as well as getting boeing to service the planes iran already has, the fleet mainly coming from the 1960s and 1970s. Boeing executives and technicians went to investigate the planes and in return concluded they would not service those planes because they were in such bad shape that boeing did not want to take on the liability of having to service them because they would likely crash even with that service and boeing would be liable at that point. So it refused to service those planes. It tells you how bad shape the iranian fleet is. And this is overwhelmingly the result of the sanctions. Amy the foreign former foreign minister blamed the United States because of the embargo weaving their fleet, saying this will be in a list of u. S. Crimes against the iranian people. This is obviously a lie many in the government will take and point to the sanctions. I think theres also another message that comes with this which is they are really pointing to this being an accident. This is an effort for them to put to rest any speculation that perhaps there was somehow play, whether it was internal players or external players. At this moment, for instance, they will be adamant about denying this that israel had anything to do this despite the fact under normal circumstances, they would be rather quick to bkllame the israelis. It would be too embarrassing to even entertain the idea the israelis have the capacity to be able to essentially kill the iranian president and foreign minister. I want to be clear, theres no evidence israel im just raising this as a point as to why there active in trying to blame this on an accident. It is because they want to put to rest any such rumors not only because of the embarrassment but also they do not want to see in intensified infighting inside of the regime, mindful of the fact raisi was a contender for the next Supreme Leader. Amy raisi was in charge during a crackdown on protests that led to the deaths of many and imprisonment of many others after the death of mahsa amini. And this weekend, we got word that bbc reported the jailed iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi said she is facing a new trial after she accuse the Security Forces of sexually assaulting women. She said in her statement that she was dragged to the unjust and farcical cords table again due to her protest and disclosure of religious regimes, Sexual Assault against women. What will happen now that raisi and the foreign minister are dead when it comes to using protests, when it comes to what is happening with mohamed he heard something dragged to court again . I dont think this will be likely to be an event that will c