Celebratory protests have broken out in Iran after President Ebrahim Raisi’s untimely death in a helicopter accident in the region of East Azerbaijan. While anti-regime Iranians hailed the accident news, video footage showed fireworks being launched into the night sky after the crash.
On Sunday night, Iranian authorities were seen in Rasht, a city in northern Iran, when news spread that President Raisi, also known as “The Butcher,” was missing in the area after his chopper crashed due to severe weather.
The Islamic government of Iran sent troops to Rasht and Tehran last night to put an end to the festivities that were anticipated to follow the announcement of Raisi’s death. After an hours-long search in the fog in Iran’s East Azerbaijan region, officials and state media revealed on Monday that Raisi’s dead body had been located. Death found the controversial president at the age of 63.
Among the casualties was the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan region and the imam for Friday prayers in Tabriz; the charred remains of the chopper apparently included the body of Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, along with the president’s bodyguards and helicopter crew. The number of casualties is uncertain; among them was Sardar Seyed Mehdi Mousavi, leader of the president’s security team.
A video emerged showing a group of people in London celebrating in front of the Iranian embassy. After hearing of the disaster, two Iranian ladies, Mersedeh Shahinkar and Sima Moradbeigi, who were victims of Raisi’s “morality police’, began to dance and smile.
Iran will observe a national mourning period of five days in memory of Raisi, as announced Monday by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader. He gave himself up to fifty days to choose a new president and officially recognized First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber as the country’s acting head of state.
