Ali Khamenei, while appointing the "informer" as interim head of government, declared five days of "public mourning"

Ali Khamenei issued a message describing the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a plane crash yesterday as a "martyrdom" and assigned Mohammad Mokhbar to "manage the executive branch" to "work with the heads of the legislative and judicial branches" to arrange for a new president to be elected within "a maximum of fifty days."

Khamenei also declared five days of "public mourning" on the occasion of the killing of Raisi and his entourage.

A few hours ago, news of the deaths of Ebrahim Raisi, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Mohammad Ali Al-Hashem, Malek Rahmati, and other passengers on the flight accompanying the head of state of the Islamic Republic was published in the official Iranian government media.

Following the death of Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage, the government delegation held a meeting and issued a statement, offering condolences for the helicopter crash and announcing: "With the support of the noble people, there will not be the slightest disruption to the country's jihadi management."

Following the official announcement of Ebrahim Raisi's death, an extraordinary meeting of the "Chiefs of Staff" was held on Monday morning, with the presence of Baqer Qalibaf and Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, hosted by First Deputy Prime Minister Mohammad Mokhbar.

According to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, in the event of the death of the President, the First Vice President, with the approval of the Leader of the Islamic Republic, assumes the presidency, and a council consisting of the heads of the legislative and judicial branches, and the First Vice President, assumes executive responsibility until new presidential elections are held within 50 days.

Conflicting reports about the incident continued to circulate for more than 16 hours after it occurred, leading some to speculate that there was a cover-up.

The Islamic Republic's rescue forces claimed that they were unable to locate and determine the fate of the helicopter's occupants due to heavy fog and unstable weather conditions.

The exact location of the downed helicopter was determined at around 4 a.m. Iranian time with the help of a night vision drone sent by Turkey, but in the following hours, Islamic Republic officials insisted on emphasizing that the location of the incident was identified by Iranian drones.

The head of the country's cyber police also announced in the early hours of Monday that "we are monitoring cyberspace very carefully" and threatened citizens that "in the current and sensitive circumstances" they should "refrain" from publishing content that "provokes" "public sentiments."

Since the news of the accident involving Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage was released, Iranian users on social media have reacted widely to the incident. Opponents of the government expressed their delight with sarcastic and humorous posts, while supporters of the government addressed the deaths of a group of Islamic Republic officials with "exasperating" posts.

Source: Voice of America