Iran declares five days of mourning after President Raisi’s death

Update Iran declares five days of mourning after President Raisi’s death
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Rescue team members work at the crash site of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Varzaghan, northwestern Iran on May 20, 2024. (MOJ News Agency/AFP)
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Updated 21 May 2024
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Iran declares five days of mourning after President Raisi’s death

Iran declares five days of mourning after President Raisi’s death
  • Iran’s supreme leader appoints First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber acting president

DUBAI/TEHRAN: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced on Monday five days of mourning for President Ebrahim Raisi who died in a helicopter crash.

“I announce five days of public mourning and offer my condolences to the dear people of Iran,” said Khamenei in an official statement a day after the death of Raisi and other officials in the crash in East Azerbaijan province.

Khamenei has appointed First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber acting president and has a maximum period of 50 days to hold elections following the death of Raisi, Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported. 

Raisi, the country’s foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and others have been found dead at the site of a helicopter crash Monday after an hourslong search through a foggy, mountainous region of the country’s northwest, state media reported. Raisi was 63.

The government cabinet has appointed Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani as acting foreign minister.

Lebanon and Syria on Monday announced three days of national mourning for the Iranian president and foreign minister, who were killed in a helicopter crash overnight near the Azerbaijan border.

Iran enjoys sway in both countries, backing the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in Lebanon and supporting Syria’s government and security forces stay in power throughout more than a decade of war.

“I can’t tell you how sorry I am about this incident that happened. Especially that the foreign minister had become a friend,” Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told reporters on Monday.




Rescue team works following a crash of a helicopter carrying Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, in Varzaqan, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran, on May 19, 2024. (West Asia News Agency via Reuters)

The helicopter also carried the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, other officials and bodyguards, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

Early Monday morning, Turkish authorities released what they described as drone footage showing what appeared to be a fire in the wilderness that they “suspected to be wreckage of helicopter.” The coordinates listed in the footage put the fire some 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the Azerbaijan-Iranian border on the side of a steep mountain.




In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, President Ebrahim Raisi, right, shakes hands with his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev during their meeting in the inauguration ceremony of dam of Qiz Qalasi, or Castel of Girl in Azeri, at the border of Iran and Azerbaijan, on May 19, 2024. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)

Footage released by the IRNA early Monday showed what the agency described as the crash site, across a steep valley in a green mountain range. Soldiers speaking in the local Azeri language said: “There it is, we found it.”

Condolences started pouring in from neighbors and allies after Iran confirmed there were no survivors from the crash. Pakistan announced a day of mourning and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X that his country “stands with Iran in this time of sorrow.” Leaders of Egypt and Jordan also offered condolences, as did Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said he and his government were “deeply shocked” — Raisi was returning on Sunday after traveling to Iran’s border with Azerbaijan to inaugurate a dam with Aliyev when the crash happened.




In this photo posted on social media by the Iran News Agency, a group of people from Hamadan, western Iran are seen praying for the health of President Raisi and his accompanying delegation. (X: @IrnaEnglish)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan conveyed his condolences. Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a statement released by the Kremlin, described Raisi “as a true friend of Russia.”

Khamenei, who had himself urged the public to pray Sunday night, stressed the business of Iran’s government would continue no matter what.


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Under the Iranian constitution, Iran’s vice first president takes over if the president dies, with Khamenei’s assent, and a new presidential election would be called within 50 days.

First Vice President Mokhber already had begun receiving calls from officials and foreign governments in Raisi’s absence, state media reported. An emergency meeting of Iran’s Cabinet was held as state media made the announcement Monday morning. The Cabinet issued a statement afterward pledging it would follow Raisi’s path and that “with the help of God and the people, there will be no problem with management of the country.”




A handout picture provided by the office of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on May 19, 2024, shows him speaking during meeting of members of the Revolutionary Guards in Tehran. (AFP)

A hard-liner who formerly led the country’s judiciary, Raisi was viewed as a protégé of Khamenei and some analysts had suggested he could replace the 85-year-old leader after Khamenei’s death or resignation.

With Raisi’s death, the only other person so far suggested has been Mojtaba Khameini, the 55-year-old son to the supreme leader. However, some have raised concerns over the position being taken only for the third time since 1979 to a family member, particularly after the Islamic Revolution overthrew the hereditary Pahlavi monarchy of the shah.




People follow the news of a crash of a helicopter carrying Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi on a TV in a shop in Tehran on May 19, 2024. (West Asia News Agency via Reuters)

Raisi won Iran’s 2021 presidential election, a vote that saw the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history. Raisi is sanctioned by the US in part over his involvement in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 at the end of the bloody Iran-Iraq war.

Under Raisi, Iran now enriches uranium at nearly weapons-grade levels and hampers international inspections. Iran has armed Russia in its war on Ukraine, as well as launched a massive drone-and-missile attack on Israel amid its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It also has continued arming proxy groups in the Mideast, like Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, mass protests in the country have raged for years. The most recent involved the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who had been earlier detained over allegedly not wearing a hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of authorities. The monthslong security crackdown that followed the demonstrations killed more than 500 people and saw over 22,000 detained.

In March, a United Nations investigative panel found that Iran was responsible for the “physical violence” that led to Amini’s death.

Raisi is the second Iranian president to die in office. In 1981, a bomb blast killed President Mohammad Ali Rajai in the chaotic days after the country’s Islamic Revolution.


Eight sentenced to death for 2013 murder of Tunisia opposition leader

Eight sentenced to death for 2013 murder of Tunisia opposition leader
Updated 26 February 2025
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Eight sentenced to death for 2013 murder of Tunisia opposition leader

Eight sentenced to death for 2013 murder of Tunisia opposition leader
  • Brahmi, a nationalist left-wing leader of the People’s Movement and member of Tunisia’s Constituent Assembly, was an outspoken critic of the Islamist-inspired government dominated by Ennahdha at the time

TUNIS: A Tunisian court sentenced eight defendants to death on Tuesday over the 2013 assassination of leftist opposition figure Mohamed Brahmi, according to local reports.
Charges included “attempting to change the state’s nature” and “inciting armed conflict,” local media reported.
Three of the defendants also received additional death sentences for “deliberate participation in premeditated murder,” according to the reports.
A ninth, who is on the run, was sentenced to five years in prison for “failing to report terrorist crimes to the authorities,” said the reports.
Tunisia still hands down death sentences, particularly in “terrorism” cases, even though a de facto moratorium in effect since 1991 means they are effectively commuted to life terms.
The verdict marked the first set of rulings in the case of Brahmi’s assassination, which took place outside his home on July 25, 2013, amid Tunisia’s turbulent post-revolution political landscape.
Demonstrators took to the streets across the country, as Brahmi’s distinctive round face and thick mustache became symbols of protest against jihadist violence.
Brahmi, a nationalist left-wing leader of the People’s Movement and member of Tunisia’s Constituent Assembly, was an outspoken critic of the Islamist-inspired government dominated by Ennahdha at the time.
His assassination further shocked the nation as it came less than six months after the killing of another prominent leftist figure, Chokri Belaid, who was also gunned down outside his home.

Brahmi had been elected in Sidi Bouzid, the birthplace of the 2011 revolution that toppled ex-president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and later swept through the Arab World.
He was shot 14 times by two assailants in front of his wife and children.
His family had long accused Ennahdha of being behind the murder, but the then ruling party denied the allegations.
It had also pushed back against accusations of excessive leniency, blacklisting the formerly legal Salafist movement Ansar Al-Charia as a terrorist organization.
Terrorists affiliated with the Daesh claimed responsibility for both the Brahmi and Belaid assassinations.
The aftermath of the 2011 revolution saw a surge in Islamist radicalism in Tunisia with thousands of jihadist volunteers leaving to fight in Syria, Iraq and neighboring Libya.
Tunisia faced heightened security threats, with armed groups operating from the Chaambi Mountains near the Algerian border, primarily targeting security forces and the military.
In 2015, jihadist attacks in Sousse and the capital Tunis killed dozens of tourists and police, although authorities say they have since made significant progress against the extremists.
In recent years, Tunisian authorities claim significant progress in combating jihadist violence, but the country remains under a state of emergency.
In 2022, President Kais Saied — who has framed the murders of Brahmi and Belaid as national issues and often called them “martyrs” — dismissed dozens of judges after alleging they had obstructed investigations.
The high-profile killings, and the mass protests they drew, ultimately forced Ennahdha to relinquish power to a technocratic government following the adoption of a new constitution.
The crisis had nearly derailed Tunisia’s fragile democratic transition.
But political dialogue led by four civil society organizations, including the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), helped restore stability and earned the nation of 12 million the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize.
 

 


Why UAE climate scientists have their heads in the clouds

Why UAE climate scientists have their heads in the clouds
Updated 26 February 2025
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Why UAE climate scientists have their heads in the clouds

Why UAE climate scientists have their heads in the clouds
  • $1.5 million three-year project will deploy artificial intelligence to increase annual rainfall

DUBAI: Artificial intelligence and “the cloud” seem to be everywhere these days — now scientists in the UAE are putting them together in an attempt to increase the country’s minuscule 100mm annual rainfall.

A three-year project funded with $1.5 million from the UAE’s rain enhancement program will feed satellite, radar and weather data into an algorithm that predicts where seedable clouds will form in the next six hours. It promises to improve on the current method of cloud-seeding flights directed by human experts studying satellite images.
Cloud seeding, using planes to fire salt or other chemicals into clouds, can increase rainfall by up to 15 percent — but it works only with certain types of puffy, cumulus clouds, and can even suppress rainfall if not done properly.
“You’ve got to do it in the right place at the right time. That’s why we use artificial intelligence,” said Luca Delle Monache, a climate scientist at the University of California San Diego.


Israel, Hamas agree on new exchange, leaving fragile ceasefire intact

Hamas fighters stand in formation ahead Israeli hostages release in Nuseirat, Gaza Strip, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP)
Hamas fighters stand in formation ahead Israeli hostages release in Nuseirat, Gaza Strip, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP)
Updated 26 February 2025
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Israel, Hamas agree on new exchange, leaving fragile ceasefire intact

Hamas fighters stand in formation ahead Israeli hostages release in Nuseirat, Gaza Strip, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP)
  • The deadlock had threatened to collapse the ceasefire when the current six-week first phase of the deal expires this weekend

JERUSALEM: Israeli and Hamas officials said Tuesday they have reached an agreement to exchange the bodies of dead hostages for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, keeping their fragile ceasefire intact for at least a few more days.
Israel has delayed the release of 600 Palestinian prisoners since Saturday to protest what it says is the cruel treatment of hostages during their release by Hamas. The militant group has said the delay is a “serious violation” of their ceasefire and that talks on a second phase are not possible until they are freed.
The deadlock had threatened to collapse the ceasefire when the current six-week first phase of the deal expires this weekend.
But late Tuesday, Hamas said an agreement had been reached to resolve the dispute during a visit to Cairo by a delegation headed by Khalil Al-Hayya, a top political official in the group.
The breakthrough appeared to clear the way for the return of the bodies of four more dead hostages and hundreds of additional prisoners scheduled to be released under the ceasefire.
The prisoners previously slated for release “will be released simultaneously with the bodies of the Israeli prisoners who were agreed to be handed over,” along with the release of a new set of Palestinian prisoners, the Hamas statement said.
An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, confirmed an agreement to bring home the bodies in the coming days. He gave no further details.
But Israeli media reports said the exchange could take place as soon as Wednesday. The Ynet news site said the Israeli bodies would be handed over to Egyptian authorities without any public ceremony.
Hamas has released hostages, and the bodies of four dead hostages, in large public ceremonies during which the Israelis were paraded and forced to wave to large crowds. Israel, along with the Red Cross and UN officials, have said the ceremonies were humiliating to the hostages, and Israel last weekend delayed the scheduled prisoner release in protest.
The latest agreement would complete both sides’ obligations of the first phase of the ceasefire — during which Hamas is returning 33 hostages — including eight bodies — in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
It also could clear the way for an expected visit by the White House’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, to the region. Witkoff, who is expected in the region in the coming days, has said he wants the sides to move into negotiations on the second phase, during which all remaining hostages held by Hamas are to be released and an end to the war is to be negotiated. The Phase 2 talks were supposed to begin weeks ago, but never did.
The ceasefire, brokered by the US, Egypt and Qatar, ended 15 months of heavy fighting that erupted after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that killed some 1,200 people in Israel and took about 250 people hostage.
Israel’s military offensive has killed over 48,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials, displaced an estimated 90 percent of Gaza’s population and decimated the territory’s infrastructure and health system. The Hamas-run Health Ministry does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths, but it says that over half of the dead have been women and children.
 

 


Officers killed in Sudan plane crash: military source

Officers killed in Sudan plane crash: military source
Updated 26 February 2025
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Officers killed in Sudan plane crash: military source

Officers killed in Sudan plane crash: military source
  • In a statement sent to the media, the RSF said it shot down a Russian-made Ilyushin plane early on Monday morning, alleging that the plane was destroyed with its crew on board

PORT SUDAN, Sudan: A Sudanese military plane crashed on Tuesday on the outskirts of the capital Khartoum, killing a number of officers and civilians, the army said, with pro-democracy activists saying at least 10 people were killed.
In a statement released late Tuesday, the Sudanese army, at war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023, said the plane crashed during takeoff from an air base, killing and injuring both military personnel and civilians.
“The injured have been taken to hospital, and firefighting teams managed to contain the blaze at the crash site,” the statement added.
A military source had earlier told AFP that a technical malfunction was behind the crash of the Antonov aircraft.
The crash took place near Wadi Seidna air base — one of the army’s largest military hubs in Omdurman, part of greater Khartoum.
The Karari Resistance Committee, part of a network of volunteers coordinating aid across Sudan, reported that 10 bodies and several injured people were brought to Al-Nao hospital in Omdurman.
Witnesses reported damage to several homes in the neighborhood where the plane came down.
Residents in northern Omdurman reported a loud explosion from the crash, which also caused power outages in several surrounding neighborhoods.
A witness said the plane was flying southbound from northern Sudan when it crashed near the base.
The incident comes a day after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) claimed responsibility for downing a fighter jet in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur.
In a statement sent to the media, the RSF said it shot down a Russian-made Ilyushin plane early on Monday morning, alleging that the plane was destroyed with its crew on board.
The recent escalation follows significant advances by the army in central Sudan and the capital Khartoum in its multi-front offensive against the RSF.
Since April 2023, army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his former deputy and RSF commander Mohamed Hamadan Dagalo, once allies, have been locked in a brutal power struggle.
The conflict, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives, erupted after a rift emerged between Burhan and Dagalo over the future structure of the government.
The conflict has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters in recent memory, according to the UN.
 


UN agency chief says ‘wouldn’t be involved in any’ Gaza displacement

UN agency chief says ‘wouldn’t be involved in any’ Gaza displacement
Updated 26 February 2025
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UN agency chief says ‘wouldn’t be involved in any’ Gaza displacement

UN agency chief says ‘wouldn’t be involved in any’ Gaza displacement
  • More than 15 months of war, triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, have left much of Gaza in ruins and most of its population displaced

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia: The International Organization for Migration will not be part of “any kind of forced” evacuation of Palestinians out of Gaza, the director of the UN agency, Amy Pope, told AFP on Tuesday.
Any such displacement would be a “red line” for governments in the region, said Pope, after US President Donald Trump proposed taking over the war-battered Gaza Strip and removing its more than two million Palestinian inhabitants.
“We made a commitment to the communities that we serve that we wouldn’t be involved in any kind of forced movement of population or evacuation of people,” said Pope, who is American.
Trump’s proposal to rebuild Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East” while its residents are displaced prompted widespread criticism when it was first presented in early February.
“As we’re seeing right now, (the displacement of Palestinians) has been a red line for both the government of Jordan and Egypt,” Pope said of the two countries Trump has said could take in Gazans.
“We’re a humanitarian actor,” she added.
“So we... certainly don’t engage in activities that would be red lines for key member states.”
Faced with strong opposition in the Middle East and beyond, Trump said in an interview on Friday he was “not forcing” his plan.
Pope, in a visit to Gaza last week, said she saw that “things are just very much destroyed.”
“You... see buildings that have been completely destroyed, you see rubble” and burnt cars, she told AFP.
“I saw people on the side of the road in the shadow of crumbled buildings, around fires, trying to stay warm.”
Gaza’s civil defense agency said earlier on Tuesday that six newborn babies died in a cold snap which has gripped the territory over the past week.
More than 15 months of war, triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, have left much of Gaza in ruins and most of its population displaced.
UN estimates put the cost of reconstruction at more than $53 billion.
A fragile ceasefire in effect since January 19 has allowed an increase in humanitarian aid into Gaza, though Hamas has accused Israel of blocking the entry of some essential supplies.