Iran President Ebrahim Raisi (L) with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (File)


Beginner’s Guide: What Now for Iran’s Regime After Death of Its President?


UPDATE 1751 GMT:

Alistair Bunkall, the Middle East for Sky News, and I joined RTE Radio 1’s Claire Byrne to analyze further the position of the Iranian regime at home and abroad after the deaths of President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

We discuss the political, economic, and social situation and evaluate the regime’s options.

Listen to Discussion


ORIGINAL ENTRY: I joined France 24 English on Monday to evaluate the significance of the deaths of Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in a helicopter crash in the northwest of the country.

I discuss the domestic political situation, with hardline and conservative factions vying for the favor of the Supreme Leader, and who might be put in the President’s seat in “managed” elections in July.

I look at Raisi’s role in the Iranian system as a placeholder for the interests of the Supreme Leader and hardliners, and I evaluate the likelihood of unrest amid ongoing political, economic, and social problems.

We’ve seen historic lows in voter participation in recent elections. This doesn’t mean that Iranians want to rise up and replace the regime, but many of them — after years of being ground down economically, socially, and politically — are in a state of resignation about what their leaders are doing and where they go next.