DEVELOPING: Iranian President’s Helicopter Suffers ‘Accident’ or ‘Incident’ — Either Way, It Went Down.
UPDATE:
My thoughts are with the @washingtonpost obituary team in this difficult time as they fiercely debate whether to call Ebrahim Raisi an “austere religious scholar”, a “patriotic anti-Zionist leader” or a “zealous anti-corruption crusader”.
— Gabriel Noronha (@GLNoronha) May 19, 2024
UPDATE (5:27 pm): It’s not an obit, since there’s no official word yet, but currently, the WaPo is going with “protégé and trusted confidant of Iran’s supreme leader, 85-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Raisi was elected president in 2021 after a decorated career as an ultraconservative in Iran’s judiciary.”
No mention of the many executions that Raisi signed off on. Even the House of Stephanopoulos is noting that in the late 1980s, “International rights groups estimate that as many as 5,000 people were executed. Raisi served on the commissions.”
UPDATE (6:05 pm): If Raisi Is Dead: Implications for the Islamic Republic of Iran.
UPDATE (11:01 pm):
BREAKING: No survivors from Iranian helicopter crash
— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) May 20, 2024
UPDATE (11:22 pm):
CNN reports that there were no survivors of the helicopter crash, citing Iranian State media.
In addition to President Ebrahim Raisi, Iran's Foreign Minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, was also onboard. pic.twitter.com/jTir3NeRT8
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) May 20, 2024