How world leaders react to Iran's Raisi's death | DW News

now Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah K has announced 5 days of mourning following the death of the country's president Ibrahim RI he was killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday along with the country's foreign minister and several others Rescuers had scoured the mountainous area in Iran's east aeran region before eventually discovering the wreckage officials say the aircraft crashed into a mountain peak during heavy fog RI became president in 2021 and was a deeply conservative and Hardline leader now while many leaders and officials from across the world have been sending messages of condolences the reaction among the Iranian diaspora has been mixed the news of President R's death sent shock waves across Iran and Beyond messages of condolence have been pouring into the country many from Regional Neighbors [Music] as well as allies and partners in other authoritarian regimes Iranian embassies worldwide have seen both condolences and celebrations in neighboring Iraq mourners lit candles and paid tribute to AI in Moscow some people came to lay flowers and offer their condolences at Iran's Embassy in Beijing the flag flew at half mast and the foreign min Ministry said China had lost a dear friend president ryi made significant contributions to Iran's security and stability and he promoted its development and prosperity the reaction from the United States was somewhat more ambivalent Abraham REI was a brutal participant in the repression of the Iranian people for nearly four decades that said we regret any loss of life we don't want to see anyone die in a helicopter crash um but that doesn't change the reality of his record both as a judge and as the President of Iran the fact that he has blood on his hands in other parts of the world some were celebrating in Syria's opposition held idli Province where Iranian backed terrorist groups have been known to operate locals handed out sweets outside Iran's Embassy in London there is music dancing and cheering [Music] demonstrators outside the Berlin Embassy called this a happy day as exiled members of the Iranian opposition in Germany made their feelings perfectly clear ri's death has prompted mixed reactions from governments and leaders from around the world Russia and Iran have deepened their ties since the start of Vladimir Putin's fullscale invasion of Ukraine Putin also hailed his country's strategic partnership and friendship Teran has supplied moscow's forces with shaad drones throughout the conflict Syria is home to many Iran linked militias and president Bashar al-assad was fome in his praise for risi's efforts to enrich Syria and Iran relations in Pakistan prime minister shabbaz Sharif said his country would observe a day of mourning and fly the flag at half Mas as a mark of respect while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed ri's contribution to strengthening the bilateral relationship the European Union's reaction was relatively muted council president charl Michelle expressed the eu's sincere condolences for the death of President RI as well as other members of their delegation and crew the block has imposed sanctions against Iran in response to its human rights abuses nuclear proliferation activities and Military Support for Russia's War aggression against Ukraine well I'm joined Now by political analyst Ali fan nja director of the Berlin based Think Tank the center for Middle East in Global Order it's good to have you on the program tonight um we were seeing pictures coming from Tyron this evening showing people taking to the streets people mourning publicly the death of their president that's the official narrative is that the complete narrative well it no it is not not it's the narrative that is proclaimed and propagated by the state and as you know uh over at least the last decade um there's been emerging an immense Gulf if not irreversible one between State and Society so there are elements within Iranian Society who are not joining uh the state ordered morning but um there is a sense of Sharden freuder as well uh because after all uh president RI has been imp ated uh in a mass murder of political dissidents at the end of the 1980s where he has been part of a very small committee um you know sentencing PE uh dissidents to death with no judicial process whatsoever and also more recently he was handpicked by the Supreme Leader of Iran and as president he has been widely hailed as one who is extremely incompetent uh I mean who hold a doctorate but only uh probably attended just a few years of school and also when it comes to his campaign promises he has failed he had failed so far to deliver on any of them Iran's supreme leader is 85 years old president RI um had been seen as a possible successor the next supreme leader now that President RI is dead can we expect should we expect a power struggle at the top at some point in the future uh I believe so that the power struggle especially when it comes to the question of succession of Iranian supreme leader aliam going to be intensified uh because after all uh RI was a uh close confident and prot of uh H and he has been uh chairing a three member committee tasked with finding uh the new supreme leader uh and as you said uh he was also traded himself to be uh potentially the next supreme leader so uh the uh struggle over the question of succession going to certainly be intensified and this of course um I mean uh Ra's death of course opens the way uh for uh you know New Horizons uh about the question of succession of the supreme leader we've got about um 30 seconds here but I want to get this question to you do you foresee any change in Iranian foreign policy particularly with um Iran's proxies in the mid Middle East well not at all because the center of power of Iran does not consist of does not contain the president but uh it is it consists of the supreme leader its Quest on a parallel government the so-called office plus the Islamic revolution guard Corp so all those are the ones who are calling the shots when it comes to Iran's Regional and foreign policies but also when it comes to domestic politics so in political terms uh we can expect no changes but what is going to be interesting is the more intensified power struggle at the top of the regime alif fatah NAD from the center for Middle East and Global Order we appreciate your time and your analysis tonight thank you thank you I'm joined Now by comron Martin a senior lecturer at the University of Sussex he also specializes in in on Iran and international relations it's good to have you with this um Abraham rayi he he was seen as a possible successor to the 85-year-old supreme leader of Iran with that in mind what does his sudden death mean for the future at the very top of the country yes indeed actually the fact that he was um seen as a potential successor toah along with k own son who many observers believed is the uh real uh kind of candidate for for succeeding his father has given rise to all sort of speculation within Iranian uh Community abroad and inside Iran whether this was an sort kind of quote unquote inside job to get rid of a potential competitor so that K's son can exceed to to to the throne of his father but in in terms of um the impact of his death death m in the actual um political structure of Iran actually presidency has limited power it's not comparable to other Republican systems a real power lies in the hands of the supreme leader aah K and also de facto power um in the hands of irgc revolu which has close relationship with Ayah um so in some ways you might U say that this has simplified the succession with the removal of a potential candidate but in any case it is assembly of experts which has to select uh the succeed who succeeds the the Supreme uh leader but many but the candidates in the members of that assembly themselves are selected by a body which is uh appointed by the Supreme Leader so the whole thing is sort of engineered um or can be engineered in advance well you say that the the power equation inside the country may be simpler because of this tragedy I'm wondering that what does it mean for foreign policy we know that Iran is involved in Iraq Syria Lebanon Yemen and of course we know that it backs Hamas in Gaza will this tragedy will the loss of the president the foreign minister will will that change anything there well you know as this as as it is well known um you know the the uh the person who has the last say on matters of National Security as well as strategic foreign policies the supreme leader uh so in that sense uh even if RI was not in line with supreme leader I don't think he could actually make uh huge change in that regards but the fact as is that RI was a prote of aah K he was very obedient to him which was one reason why among many reasons why he was actually able to win the elections because all the other potential candidates were disqualified by a body which is appointed by the Supreme Leader so I don't think his demise actually impacts Iran's foreign policy and Regional policy and it will remain in the hands of irgc and the supreme leader the the relationship or the absence of a relationship with with Israel will that be impacted At All by by this tragedy I doubt so I mean one of the many um conspiracy theories uh which is circulating around is that uh Israel might have had some role in it because RI was returning from a meeting with the president of aeran Republic opening a dam between the two countries and aeran is very has very close military and security relations with Israel for which actually Iranian regime has in the past threaten the the Republic of aeran but of course Israel has denied any involvement and this remains only a kind of a theory but in terms of the impact on um Israeli Iranian relationship ship I think Iran will continue to support its So-Cal axis of resistance what other people call its proxy forces against Israel but it will avoid an an allout war with Israel and United States and there were reports of secret meeting between Iranian and American officials in Oman regarding the same matter I think that line will be continued by whoever is replacing RI in Iran and and also by the irgc and supreme leader Mr muton we appreciate your your time your valuable analysis tonight thank you well in 2009 maah Bahari spent more than 100 days in an Iranian prison where he was tortured and threatened with execution while the Iranian Canadian journalist filmmaker and editor of Iran wire.com joins us now from London good to have you with us how big a loss is Ibraham R's sudden death are going to be for Iran's leadership so the Iranian president is like a prime minister in an absolute monarchy so as such he does not have that much power but uh the president is in charge of carrying out certain laws he has some sway with some parts of the government he can somehow affect the lawmakers in relationship with the Parliament and also he either can be totally 100% uh in the service of the supreme leader of Iran who has absolute Authority or he can somehow advise the supreme leader to do certain things ricey was 100% at the service of the Iranian supreme leader but in the past three years when he was president he proved to be very inefficient inept uh as a manager and also he was horrible as a public speaker so so I would say that there's a sigh of relief maybe in certain quarters in Iran because they have gotten rid of a very bad president and whoever comes to uh who comes becomes a president in Iran might be most probably be a better manager and a better public speaker than RI because that's not a very difficult thing to do okay so from from from what you said it sounds like not much will change with his death Iran of course involved in Iraq Lebanon Yemen and of course backing Hamas in Gaza so that all of that doesn't change we presume regardless of who is the president it is the supreme leader who assigns the Minister of Foreign Affairs minister of interior head of the Revolutionary regard and many other officials in in Iran so uh the death of the president is not going to change the Iranian domestic policy or foreign policy in certain cases the president is more combative like we saw with Mahmud Ahmed NAD in 2005 who denied the Holocaust without anyone ordering him to do that or we saw Hassan Rohani in 2013 who was a more pragmatic more consiliary person in terms of his relation relationship should be theol but the Revolutionary guards and the supreme leader or actually the other way around the supreme leader and the Revolutionary guards are in charge of Iran's domestic policy foreign policy and also the military and and on domestic policy I understand you yourself have suffered as a result of Iranian domestic policy that also we presume does not change it's not going to change that much but as I mentioned the president can advise the supreme leader into taking certain policies sometimes the president is successful sometimes the president is not but also we have to understand that the supreme leader of Iran is 85 years old and he's more interested in his legacy which he sees the survival of the Islamic Republic than his legitimacy which would be serving the people of Iran so the next president will have that in mind and will be trying to count out to the Supreme Leader as much as possible and be totally at the service of the supreme leader otherwise there would be a very confrontational period between the supreme leader and the people around him as well as the Revolutionary guard and the president and the cabinet thanks for walking us through at maah Bahari from iranwire

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Id: 1hybV77aogo

Length: 17min 11sec (1031 seconds)

Published: Tue May 21 2024