Ebrahim Raisi, Iran's hard-line president, died in a fiery helicopter crash in remote, fog-shrounded mountains. Also killed was foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others aboard the chopper. Raisi's death triggers an election within 50 days and is a headache for the county's theocratic rulers, as he was considered the top candidate to replace aging supreme leader Ruhollah Khomeini.
There's no suggestion of assassination—the helicopter was accompanied by others en route—but "Mossad" is of course trending this morning. Sources in Iran's government complained swiftly of embargoes making it hard to maintain equipment such as the Bell helicopter that went down.
_(cropped).jpg){kind=link}