Tehran, May 20 (UNI) With reports that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has died in a chopper crash, the first vice president – who is now Mohammad Mokhber – will step in and assume the duties of the President, Tehran Times said.
In accordance with Articles 130 and 131 of the first edition of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran (adopted in 1979), the first vice president will step in and assume the duties of the president if the president is unable to fulfill his legal duties due to dismissal, resignation, absence, illness, or death, it said.
The Constitution stipulates that these responsibilities are transferred to the First Vice President with the approval of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, and in 50 days the country needs to go to an election to elect a new president.
According to the Iranian political hierarchy, the head of the state is the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, and the president is considered the head of the government, the second-in-command.
In case of sudden death, the first vice president is expected to guide the country through this transitional period until new presidential elections are held.
The Iranian constitution was amended in 1989, when important changes were instituted, it said.
Earlier, Mehr News Agency reported that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the country's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian have died in a helicopter crash that occurred on Sunday.
The helicopter carrying President Raeisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian crashed in a dense forest area in the Iranian province of East Azarbaijan on Sunday.
The helicopter's passengers included Ebrahim Raisi, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran's East Azerbaijan Province Governor Malek Rahmati, and Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, the representative of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution to East Azarbaijan province, along with several other people.
President Raisi had travelled to East Azarbaijan province early on Sunday to inaugurate a dam with Ilham Aliyev, the president of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
The accident occurred during his return journey from the event as a result of dense fog in the region.
The helicopter crashed close to a copper mine called Sungun. It’s located in between Jolfa and Varzaqan in the East Azerbaijan province of Iran and is roughly between 70km to 100km away from the city of Tabriz, one of the largest cities in Iran and also the city that the president of Iran and foreign minister were headed toward.
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