According to AP, DUBAI, United Arab Emirates As extreme tensions engulf the greater Middle East, the Islamic Republic is left without two important leaders following the discovery of the bodies of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the Foreign Minister on Monday, hours after their chopper crashed in fog.

Although the administration was in charge and a little-known vice president was promptly chosen caretaker by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who made the last decision in the Shiite theocracy, the fatalities represent yet another setback for a nation under siege from both domestic and foreign sources.

Apparent crash of the chopper carrying the foreign minister and president of Iran

According to a Turkish drone, the accident location was in northwest Iran, on a mountainside.

Iran has not provided an explanation for the accident or claimed that sabotage was the reason behind the helicopter’s sudden, strong fog that caused it to crash in steep terrain.

Monday saw commercial openings and schoolchildren attending classes in Tehran, the capital of Iran. Nonetheless, security personnel in both plainclothes and uniform were conspicuously present.

Hundreds of mourners carrying posters of Raisi and waving Palestinian flags flocked into downtown Vali-e-Asr square later in the day. A few of the males were clearly crying and clutching prayer beads. Ladies with black chadors huddled together, clutching pictures of the deceased leader.

Mohammad Beheshti, 36, stated, “We were shocked that we lost such a character, a character that made Iran proud and humiliated the enemies.”

The collision occurs while the region is rocked by the Israel-Hamas conflict. The attack that initiated the crisis was spearheaded by Hamas, which is sponsored by Iran, and Hezbollah, which is also backed by Tehran, has fired rockets onto Israel. Iran attacked Israel last month with an unprecedented drone and missile assault.

Raisi, 63, a hardliner who once oversaw the nation’s judiciary, was thought to be Khamenei’s protégé. During his leadership, Iran’s uranium enrichment program brought it closer than ever to weapons-grade levels, and it provided Russia with drones equipped with bombs to aid in its conflict in Ukraine. As a result, ties with the West continued to worsen.

This is an especially difficult period because his government has endured years of large-scale protests over women’s rights and the failing economy.

As to the state-run IRNA news agency, the crash claimed the lives of all eight occupants of a Bell helicopter that Iran had acquired in the early 2000s. The Revolutionary Guard member, three crew members, a senior cleric from Tabriz, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan region, and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were among the deceased, according to IRNA.

Since the days of the Shah, Iran has operated a significant number of Bell helicopters. However, due to Western sanctions, aircraft in Iran frequently operate without safety inspections and confront a shortage of spare parts. This was the context in which former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif attempted to assign blame for the crash to the United States.

In a conversation, Zarif stated, “The United States is a major contributor to the tragedy that occurred yesterday. It has prohibited the sale of aircraft and aviation parts to Iran and prevents the Iranian people from using modern airports.”

U.S. sanctions have prevented Iran from replacing and repairing its fleet for decades, but “one can’t overlook human error and the weather’s role in this particular accident,” according to Ali Vaez, project director for the International Crisis Group’s work on Iran.

Aerospace researcher and consultant Richard Aboulafia surmised if Iran has the maintenance expertise to keep vintage helicopters operating safely, but he acknowledged that Iran is probably using the black market for parts to uphold aircraft.

“Helicopters that are fifty years old are safe if they receive proper maintenance.” However, he stated that using off-the-shelf parts in conjunction with whatever limited local maintenance resources they may have been not recommended.

The crash that happened in the Iranian province of East Azerbaijan was not immediately explained by state television. Early on Monday, IRNA broadcast footage that appeared to be the crash scene, which was located across a steep valley in a range of green mountains, according to the agency.

On Raisi’s passing, the US has not yet made any official comments.

Iran’s nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani will take over as the nation’s acting foreign minister, according to state television.

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