Welcome in to The Sunday Show, i am jonathan capehart, and we are following Breaking News out of iran. Earlier today, helicopter carrying the iranian president crash landed in a mountainous region in the countrys northwest, near the border with azerbaijan. Irans Foreign Minister and other State Officials were also on board. According to Iranian State media reports, rescuers have had a hard time reaching the crash site due to poor weather and heavy fog in the area. At this hour, theres no word on the president s condition. Rescuers have reportedly pinpointed the location of the downed chopper and made contact with two of the passengers. Joining me now is nbc news correspondent, josh letterman, who is following developments on the story, live in london. Whats the latest on the Rescue Effort . Reporter well, it is the early hours of the morning in iran, and jonathan, its been nearly 12 hours since we believe that plane went down and we still do not know the fate of the helicopter, the president , or the Foreign Minister who was also on board as they were returning from a visit near the border with azerbaijan. Two who were on the helicopter have made contact with the rescue authorities, according to irans foreign Executive Vice Minister who has not actuallys dead what was learned from those individuals about the fate of the people who were on board. We know dozens of Search And Rescue teams are looking for helicopters. We learned recently that they have pinpointed the location despite the intense fog and bad weather, which was cited as a key reason for the helicopter going down and has been complicating search and Rescue Effort over the past few hours. To emphasize a point you made about it being the middle of the night, it is 1 32 a. M. In iran, right now. What has been the reaction from the iranian government and the International Community to what is happening . The iranian government has urged everybody to pray for the Foreign Minister, for the president , and others on board. That is certainly a cause for concern. We heard for the Supreme Leader, the key decisionmaker in iran, who said that while he does want people to pray for their safe return, he is urging calm and telling everybody that no matter what happens, the work of irans government will continue unabated. We are hearing from other governments as well, including putin is russia, which is saying that russia is sending planes, helicopters, and Search And Rescue individuals to help with the effort in iran. Of course, russia and iran are close partners and collaborated, supplying weapons for the war in ukraine. Weve heard from Senate Democratic leader, chuck schumer, who says he was briefed by intelligence officials in the u. S. And so far, he says there are no signs of foul play, simply bad weather, that led to an unfortunate incident. Josh letterman, live from london, thank you for joining us. Lets turn to the executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute and author of the book, losing an enemy, obama, iran, and the triumph of the msc. Great to see you. There is a lot we dont know. What would happen next, if iranian authorities were to announce that the president died in that crash . If they announce that tomorrow that he actually has been killed in the crash and the Vice President , the first Vice President , would take over, but only in the interim because they will hold elections. Its quite a challenge for the government. Its very unpopular. Participation in elections have dropped dramatically in the last couple years. They were parliamentary a week or so ago and in thailand, 7 participated. The population has lost faith that change can come from the ballot boxes as long as hardliners do not allow candidates that are not in line with hardliners to be able to stand. It is a very challenging task when it comes to Holding Elections that will have the population participating. I am wondering, in the Power Structure of iran, who actually runs the country . Is it the president , or is it the Supreme Leader who has been in place since 1989 . So, ultimately, the power really lies with the Supreme Leader. The Supreme Leader is not supreme in the sense that he can overrule Everyone Else in the system. Others have powers, as well, but the presidency, under normal circumstances, is in a powerful position. He has not really made his hallmark and is largely because its not clear to what extent he is providing his own line. The reason, nevertheless, this will be impactful is this precisely because of the coming elections, as well as the fact that he was a candidate, even a leading candidate, to take over for the current Supreme Leader when he dies which will likely happen in the next couple years. Thats an undercurrent of this. What is the president s relationship like with the west . The United States, in particular. Well, under his presidency, with a large conservative grouping he represents, theyve essentially given up on the idea that the west is willing to have a sustained relationship with iran. You remember donald trump throughout an agreement that the iranians were leading up to. Instead, they are shifting their focus toward russia, china, the global south and morris importantly, their neighbors. They are focusing on improving the relationship in their immediate neighborhood, while d prioritizing the United States. I one more question. We still dont know the fate of the president , that if he were declared dead, what impact might that have on tensions in the middle east . Well, one of the things that i think would probably worry folks of the white house right now, is theres no love lost for the president , im sure, but if this leads to a debilitating crisis in the iranian region, it could have a negative spill over to the United States because i ran has held back some of the groups that they support, civilian militias. Theres been a bit of a truce in which those groups have stopped attacking u. S. Troops in the region. If theres crisis in the iranian regime, perhaps the control of these groups will suffer, control will deteriorate, and we may be renewed attacks against u. S. Troops in the region and that would be very negative. Thank you for joining us on The Sunday Show , and for giving us the perimeter on the iranian government structure and its role in the region. Thank you. We will continue to monitor the Helicopter Surgeon iran and bring you any updates when we get them. Coming up, maga threats, mike johnson is as dangerous to democracy as donald trump and i will talk about why, with becca ballin, member of the house budget and judiciary committees paid reaction to President Biden speech and morehouse college. What he said and how the campus reacted at a time of pro palestinian protest on campuses nationwide. Dont go anywhere. You are watching The Sunday Show. Ow. What causes a curve down there . Is it peyronies disease . Will it get worse . How common is it . Who can i talk to . Can this be treated . Stop typing. Start talking to a specialized urologist. Because it could be peyronies disease, or pd. Its a medical condition where there is a curve in the erection, caused by a formation of scar tissue. And an estimated 1 in 10 men may have it. But pd can be treated even without surgery. Say goodbye to searching online. 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We, never with Breaking News from the middle east this hour. Iranian state media reporting no signs of life in a Helicopter Crash to the border with azerbaijan. The countrys president was believed to be on board along with iran Foreign Minister and others as well. 40 rescue crews are deployed at this hour, including drones and search dogs. Bad weather and heavy fog has made this mission challenging for rescuers trying to reach this crash site. According to the red crescent, searchers walked to the helicopter from about two lou two kilometers away. Irans state media is reporting that officials were returning from the azerbaijan border, 375 miles northwest of tehran. The president was Inaugurating A dam with azerbaijans president. The official Instagram Account has now asked iranians to pray for him and his delegation. Irans state tv, as well, is continuously playing prayers as we monitor. Chuck schumer is saying intelligence authorities informed him there was no evidence of foul play in this crash, adding that it looks like an accident but is being fully investigated. State tv is saying there are no signs of life seen at the wreckage. Lets go to chief International Correspondent, keir simmons, who is in the region. What else do we know . It looks like we will get to keir simmons a little bit. Claudio, what are you learning at the moment in terms of the latest as we just get the news in, and the details are not altogether clear. Thats right. We are hearing and learning that Iranian State media, one indication that he might have been considered deceased in the Helicopter Crash. Our producers say the main Estate Media Channel is all wearing black which could mean that they are in morning in anticipation of the announcement but we are still in the realm of speculation. What we know so far is that on sunday he was on board with that helicopter, flying back from toronto after Inaugurating A dam with the president of azerbaijan when all of a sudden, the helicopter was forced to do a Crash Landing , and as you mentioned, a massive Search And Rescue operation was launched with 40 rescue teams using drones and search dogs, ambulances, heading for the scene. We saw videos of the Search And Rescue operation, with dense fog which could of course, be one of the factors that played in that Crash Landing. There is also speculation about the condition of the helicopter. We do know that i ran has fairly old helicopters dating back as far as 1979 because of sanctions imposed on iran in the last few years preventing them from buying new helicopters but we dont know yet what caused the crash. As you mentioned in the last hour, State Media Reports the location of the crash has been identified and that there was no sign of life, but we are still waiting for an amount meant, just to give you a sense of what will happen if its confirmed. Most likely, is Vice President will take immediately his there will be new president ial elections but a new president will have to be elected within 50 days. Standby. Lets go to richard engel. We dont have confirmation from ira padilla that the president of iran is dead or necessarily at that location. Theres no sign of life. What are we hearing . When they say no sign of life, it seems like we are waiting for official confirmation. We can speculate endlessly about what that means, whether they are going to find him tossed from a helicopter, or wandering in the woods, but it seems they are preparing to imminently announce that he did not survive. So assuming for a second that thats what we are talking about , the death of the iranian president in a helicopter, im also hearing that the cause is believed to be foul weather, not foul play, that the u. S. Military was not involved in the suspicion, israel was not involved either, it was foul weather. Now, what does this do next, assuming that there are no signs of life, the anchor is dressed in black . We could be hearing an official announcement. Assume that he has been killed. Hes been in power nearly three years. What does this do for the country . The president is a unique role, but hes not the most important person in iran. He manages daytoday affairs of the country, he runs the government, but its the Supreme Leader in iran that makes all the major decisions. Hes a cleric, i ran since 1979 has been run by islamic clerics made the Supreme Leader is the overall leader of the government, deciding ultimately , all matters, military, all matters religious, all matters of policy. He would have overseen, for example, irans attack last month on israel, a response to israeli attacks on a diplomatic facility in syria, an unprecedented move with drones and Ballistic Missiles fired at israel. This was an enormously tense moment in jerusalem. Everyone thought that this would potentially be the start of regional war. Only the Supreme Leader would have the power to authorize Something Like this and the reason i mention it is that he was the leading candidate to be the next Supreme Leader. The current Supreme Leader is 85 years old, not particularly robust even at 85 and we are in a Transition Phase in iran. This will undoubtedly raise succession issues. What happens immediately to the president , the Vice President is supposed to step in. Its about 50 days until they hold new elections, so thats all possible. The Vice President will sit in, they will be able to find a new president , but he and very few other names were mentioned as potential successors to the Supreme Leader. Only two names are really ever talked about as possible successors. Its not an open system, there are a lot of closeddoor meetings. This happens very much in the shadows and the only two people you ever hear about, the first contender, and the Supreme Leaders own son. Those really are, to my understanding, as u. S. Intelligence believes this analysis that these are really the only names that have been put forward in a serious way. There have always been issues with the Supreme Leaders son, because he is his son and now, i think we can say the presumed death of the president , we are still awaiting confirmation, but things dont look good and appears that we are heading in that path which makes this issue much more complicated and causes tremendous problems for the cleric rule in this country , because can a regime that came to power in 1979 to Overthrow A Hereditary Monarchy now come in and oversee the transfer of power . It would look suspicious. It would be potentially unwelcome by many iranians and many in the regime self. According to analysts ive been speaking to following this issue for many years, it seems that we would likely see over time, the emergence of a different cadre of leaders, people from security services, names that are potentially unknown. We will see how that develops over the course of the next probably several months, as the shock to not only the rule of the country, the dayto day rule of the country, theyll be able to manage, but as the shock to secession has to be settled. In terms of policy, i do not expect that policy will change much. Irans fundamental goals, particularly external goals, are unlikely to change. The group of people who are in the leadership, the people designed to elect the new leaders are all hardliners. They have a similar policy and they have the same three goals that iran has had for the last several decades. Those have been more and more refined over the next last several years and those would be to eliminate israel from the region, to push u. S. Troops from the middle east, and would generally topple the American World order, including china, russia, anyone who shares a similar agenda. I think that those three main points of direction, or points of the policy of the government will not change, even with a new president. Richard, i will bring in our chief International Correspondent, keir