Iran crash: President Raisi reported dead – what that might mean for the country and region

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Eric Lob, Florida International University

(THE CONVERSATION) Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who has been reported dead after the helicopter he was in crashed on May 19, 2024, is a consummate loyalist whose passing will be a severe blow to the country’s conservative leadership.

While search and rescue teams – hampered by rain, fog, forests and mountains – searched for wreckage, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the nation “should pray” for Raisi.

As an expert on Iran’s domestic politics and foreign policy, I believe concern in Tehran may extend beyond the potential human tragedy of the crash. The change forced by it will have important implications for an Iranian state that is consumed by domestic chaos, and regional and international confrontation.

Who is Ebrahim Raisi?

Since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Raisi acted as an assiduous apparatchik of the Islamic Republic and a prominent protégé of...