05/21/2024

What to Expect Next After the Sudden Death of Ebrahim Raisi

Iran's president's death will lead to new challenges

A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other officials has crashed, leaving no survivors, Iranian state media reported on Monday. The group was traveling in foggy conditions in the mountainous northwest region of the country, near the Iran-Azerbaijan border.

The Iranian cabinet praised Raisi as a "hardworking president" who "made the ultimate sacrifice" for his country – but others outside Iran remember him as a hard-line conservative whose violent crackdown on political and social dissent reaches back decades.

Most recently, Raisi's strict enforcement of the country's "hijab and chastity" law led to the arrest of the young woman Mahsa Amini, whose death in custody sparked nationwide protest in 2022.

Please select this link to read the complete article from NPR.