Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

CNN International: Iranian President Dead in Helicopter Crash. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired May 20, 2024 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[00:00:54]

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Paula Newton, and we continue to follow breaking news out of Iran, where we've learned there are no survivors at the crash site of the helicopter carrying President Ebrahim Raisi.

The Iranian Red Cross -- Red Crescent says there are no signs of life on the helicopter. That's according to Iranian state news media. And we are getting our first look -- you see it there -- at the site in Iran's East Azerbaijan province, where the aircraft went down Sunday afternoon.

Now the president and other officials, including Iran's foreign minister, had attended a ceremony for the opening of a new dam near the border with Azerbaijan.

Rescuers faced difficult weather conditions overnight, including cold and heavy fog, as they scrambled to locate the crash site.

Iranians were urged to pray for the president and those on board the aircraft. Here's the message earlier from Iran's supreme leader.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, IRAN'S SUPREME LEADER (through translator): Dear people, whether you are sitting here or will hear my speech later, do not worry. There will be no disruption in the country's work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: So no disruptions, says the supreme leader.

Our Paula Hancocks has been following all these latest developments. It's 7:30 in the morning in Tehran, just after, Paula. And you wonder what is obviously shocking news but what the reaction will be as they learn the way in which both their president and their foreign minister died.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, I think there will be vastly conflicting reactions within Iran this morning as they wake up to the news of this helicopter crash. Because we know that the president was a fairly polarizing figure. We

know he did have support from the more hardline section of society in Iran. But he certainly also was not popular among, for example, the youth-led protests that we have seen since -- since 2020. So we know that there will be a varying degree of -- of reaction when it comes to what has happened here.

So what we know at this point is the head of the Iranian Red Crescent say that there is no sign of life at the location of the helicopter crash. There were nine people on board. We know that the president, Ebrahim Raisi, had just been at an inauguration of a dam project, just close to the border with Azerbaijan in the Eastern Azerbaijan province within Iran. He had met there with the president of Azerbaijan, and they were in a three-helicopter convoy, heading back to either Tehran or where they would be able to disembark for another form of transport.

It is a very inhospitable terrain, as you could see from some of those images. Helicopter travel really the most practical to be able to get around that area.

But we also do know that weather conditions were bad at the time of this crash. Just the fact that it took rescue teams so long to be able to access that location where they believed the helicopter went down.

We know that it was extremely foggy. We had heard from rescue teams about the very poor visibility in the area. In fact, rescue teams themselves were unable to put helicopters into the air to try and help the rescue process, because it was simply too dangerous to be able to do so.

We know also it's a very mountainous area, very sparsely populated. And we understand that the temperatures overnight would dipping into subzero realms. And rescue teams really did struggle to try and get to the area where this crash took place.

So Monday morning, people in Iran will be waking up to this news. There will be shock. There will be, as I say, very varying degrees of -- of reaction when it comes to this figure.

But a very significant crash, indeed, the fact the president was on board, the top diplomat, the foreign minister of Iran, was also on board that helicopter. We know that the governor of East Azerbaijan, also one of the region's Friday prayers imams, was onboard. Security pilots and crew. So a very significant event happening in Iran right now -- Paula.

NEWTON: Yes, and Paula, it gives rise to so many questions, right, in terms of who was onboard, included security personnel. Obviously, the pilot and crew, and why they made that decision to fly. We know that two other helicopters in that convoy actually landed safely.

What more are we learning about the conditions that they undertook this trip, given the fact that you just described, really, some bad weather? We had Colonel Cedric Leighton on earlier, saying that normally that would rest with the pilot in terms of deciding whether or not to fly.

HANCOCKS: I mean, this area itself, really using a helicopter for -- for VIPs is one of the most practical ways to transport them to use the roads in this area, would take hours.

They are not good roads. And that, in itself, would be problematic when you're transporting a president and a foreign minister. So certainly, using a helicopter would be the most practical solution.

But it is questionable whether or not the decision was obviously not the right one, it appears. But whether or not that was a clear decision at the area where this -- this helicopter took off.

Now, we know that it was in an area where there was a dam project. There was an inauguration, a VIP event that the president, the foreign ministers, and also the president of Azerbaijan were in attendance.

Now, we don't know whether the -- the weather in that particular area was deceptively good. So it was deemed acceptable to be able to take this -- the president and the foreign minister into the air.

But we do know as soon as the first reports came out, that -- that they had lost contact with the helicopter itself; that it was impossible for rescue teams to be able to put their own helicopters into the air to try and pinpoint exactly where this -- this aircraft went down.

So that is very telling, if the rescue teams themselves are unable to put aircraft into the air. We know that Turkey, for example, gave a heat drone to be able to help with this search. And that certainly did manage to -- to narrow down the area that -- that the rescue teams were searching for.

But just the fact that it took rescue teams so long to get to that area. Every hour we were getting updates of the difficulties that they were encountering. The fact that the -- the visibility was dreadful. You can see from the images and the footage of the rescue teams, just how little visibility there is. And that is on the ground as people are trying to walk. You can imagine what it would have been like in the air.

So there will be some serious questions asked as to why this helicopter was in the air in the first place, why the president and the foreign minister were both on the same helicopter, for example. There were three helicopters in this convoy.

So certainly, these are questions that I'm sure will be asked internally over the hours and days to come.

NEWTON: And Paula, as you were speaking, we're seeing some of those conditions on the ground. Extraordinary that they actually sent hundreds, perhaps thousands of people out on foot. Because as you say, they could not take to the air to really conduct that search.

Paula Hancocks for us. As you continue to track reaction there from the Middle East, appreciate it. Our Ivan Watson is also tracking reaction and joins us now from Hong

Kong. And again, Ivan, I'd imagine, you know, the shock really starting to register around the world.

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sure. I mean, look, the -- the announcement that no survivors were found at the Iranian president's crash site, that's really only been in the last hour.

So it will take a little bit longer to hear more reaction and an official announcement coming out of the Iranian government, as well.

But I think it's very important to see the commentary that's come out from neighbors and other governments running up after the news of the crash came out, because many people know about the mortality rates when it comes to -- to helicopter crashes.

First and foremost, I want to highlight the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, because he was, in fact, meeting face-to-face with the Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, on Sunday morning. They were side- by-side, inaugurating the launch of a dam project on the border of the two countries.

[00:10:15]

And after news of the crash came out, Aliyev put out a statement on -- on X, saying that, "After bidding a friendly farewell to the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, we were profoundly troubled by news of a helicopter carrying the top delegation crash-landing in Iran." He said, "Our prayers to Allah Almighty are with President Raisi and the delegation" and that Azerbaijan was offering to help out, as well.

And other offers then poured in. The Iranian ambassador to Moscow said that he had, basically, an emergency meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at 10 o'clock Moscow time, 10 p.m. On Sunday, that I think, highlights the importance that the Russian president puts in his friendly relations with Iran, which has been supplying Russia with Shahid killer drones that have been used against Ukraine on the frontlines of that war.

And Russia was rushing planes and rescuers to help in the now -- the rescue effort that is now a basically a salvage effort.

Turkey, a neighbor to Iran, provided a drone that was operating in those turbulent skies that my colleague Paula Hancocks was just talking about, since Iran couldn't get helicopters up in that terrible weather.

We've also had messages of support and concern come in from China, for example. And Pakistan, which is interesting, because in January of this year, Iran launched killer attacks, deadly attacks across the border into Pakistan, which attracted just condemnation from Pakistan between those two neighbors. It gives you a sense of how prickly the relations can be in this part of the world.

We've heard that President Biden has been informed about this, but we're not hearing any official reaction from the White House yet. It will be interesting to see what Iran's sworn enemy, Israel, how it

will respond to this news. Because, of course, it was just last month that Iran and Israel were quite literally trading blows in a sharp escalation of the years-long shadow war between these two countries.

Finally, we had a message from Hamas, long supported by Iran, expressing its concern and sympathy and solidarity with Iran at this time.

So it just highlights the complicated relations and the pattern of alliances that Iran enjoys in the turbulent Middle East and further abroad.

NEWTON: Yes, and in terms of the reaction even from countries like Pakistan, as one of our analysts put it, it is a sense of decency among Muslim countries that they will continue to express that -- those kinds of condolences.

Ivan, stay with me for a minute as we have our first look here at some new pictures just coming into CNN at the site. As you can see there, obviously, daybreak. It is morning there. And you can see this is the site of the crash. It looks like a staging area right now where they've been able to get, as you can see, even ambulances there and other vehicles to try and do their first investigation of the site. And obviously try and recover the bodies.

Those are our first pictures. In fact, those are live pictures there from Tabriz, Iran, which is still quite a distance away from where this crash occurred. But they are setting up that staging area to begin those recovery operations.

I mean, Ivan, you made such good points there in terms of the reaction. I do want to ask you what will be a very complicated reaction inside of Iran, right?

Because you will have, certainly, hardliners, those who are very religious, as well, who would have backed President Raisi, and obviously, the supreme leader.

But again, those who felt that he was an unsparing repressive president of Iran that its responsible for, in fact, condemning many to death.

WATSON: Very polarized. We heard the Iranian government, the supreme leader of Iran, no less, Ali Khamenei, calling for prayers for Raisi and his entourage.

And we saw on Iranian state media scenes of people quite literally praying for him. And now that will transition to prayers of mourning.

After all, we were seeing that some of the anchors on Iranian state television are wearing black right now in, I think, a sign of what's to come in Iran, as we are likely to move into a period of official mourning.

[00:15:03] On the other side of the political spectrum in Iran, there are those who see Ebrahim Raisi as a villain. And we are seeing signs on social media. We are seeing videos of people whose families suffered under the crackdown, particularly over the last two years in Iran, quite literally celebrating.

In one video, two women whose mother died in the crackdown, dancing to a Turkish pop song called "Helicopter."

OK, further abroad, we have members of the diaspora who are opponents of the Islamic Republic of Iran, of the regime there, since -- in place since 1979, also celebrating this moment.

And it underscores the internal divisions within this country, where you've had, over the past 20 years, recurring uprisings and protest movements that the authorities have crushed using, at times, deadly force.

Ebrahim Raisi himself was elected in 2021. It was historically, since the foundation of the Islamic republic of Iran, the lowest voter turnout in any presidential election. I believe it was in the 40th percentile.

And the parliamentary elections of just a few months ago also had a low voter turnout.

In decades past, Paula, I think you and I have reported on the power struggle between reformist and conservative camps in Iran. Experts will argue that -- that the reformist side of the body politic in Iran has effectively been crushed for years now.

And now, if there is any power struggle, it's within different shades -- different shades of black and gray within the hardline and conservative camp.

So a big part of Iranian political society is basically blocked out of politics. And that leaves factions, again, within the hardline and conservative side of society, to then kind of duke it out over who might become a candidate and the winner of presidential elections, which according to Iran's constitution, are to take place some 50 days after the death of the elected president.

NEWTON: It is quite a fast timeline, especially given that this country will be in mourning for several days.

Ivan Watson, thanks so so much. You will continue to bring us news as we get it in terms of reaction.

And stay with us. We will have much more on our breaking news here in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:21:16]

NEWTON: We want to get back to our breaking news story this hour. Iran's president, Ebrahim Raisi, is believed to be dead after no survivors were found at the crash site of the helicopter carrying him. That's according to Iranian state media.

The aircraft came down early Saturday -- Sunday afternoon, as it was flying over Iran's East Azerbaijan province. It was carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and eight other people, including the country's foreign minister.

The Iranian constitution states that, in the case of the president's death, the first vice president shall assume has powers with the approval of the supreme leader. And in fact, we have already heard from the supreme leader. This was before we knew that the helicopter had crashed, and at the time he was promising that there would be no disruption.

What you're looking at now are live pictures of the staging area not far from the crash site in Tabriz, Iran, where they are trying to obviously mount a recovery operation now and, no doubt, a very extensive investigation to determine how this happened.

I'm joined now by CNN military analyst and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

And I'm going to get to the military chain of command here and how we feel that happened. But I want to deal strictly now with the aviation. When you see what we've seen in terms of the crash site now -- we do have a still photo of that -- the terrain, the weather conditions, what could have been at play here?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Key factors, Paula, and I think one of the key things, of course, the weather, as you mentioned. That would be one aspect of this.

So you have fog. You have rain. You have cold temperatures. And you have the terrain that you're dealing with here. So with temperatures below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, ten degrees Celsius, you find that there's the possibility, at higher altitudes, of icing of, you know, the rotor blades. There's a possibility of even, potentially, engine failure.

So there are a lot of different things that could, in fact, have been part of this.

Plus, the other thing, the other factor in this would be maintenance: whether or not the helicopter was properly maintained. You would think, you know, as a part of a presidential fleet, that a helicopter would receive the highest attention when it comes to the maintenance and protocols associated with it.

But even with some of the best oversight, there's sometimes things that have -- and of course, if there are no spare parts for the helicopter, then you get into a situation where there's a real possibility that they were using workarounds for missing parts, where they were trying to fabricate missing parts that they couldn't obtain on the international markets. So those are the kinds of things that could potentially have

contributed to a failure in -- in the engine or a failure for the air -- of the aircraft itself.

Then you have the factor of the terrain. This terrain is a very forbidding terrain. I know someone was talking about this earlier, when he, you know, was mentioning that he had been through this area. It is a cavernous place, altitudes on average of about 6,000 feet, 2,400 or so meters. So that is a, you know, pretty high average altitude to deal with.

And then you have to have the understanding of what the terrain actually is. So if you're flying over something like this, you have to actually understand what the contours of the earth actually are. Sometimes times navigation aids aren't the -- you know, as good as they need to be. Sometimes they fail. And if that is the case, then that could also have contributed to this -- this crash.

[00:25:10]

So there were a lot of aspects of this, Paula, but I think the key things are maintenance issues, the weather. And the fact that Iran has been living under sanctions, and they're using very old equipment to -- even to transport their highest-level leaders.

NEWTON: And then we get to the military chain of command. And I know you told us earlier that whether or not to fly would have -- ultimately rest with the pilot in this situation, to kind of assess the weather conditions and if it was safe.

But it seems odd to me. You had mentioned the airframe on this thing could be nearly a half-century old. You had the foreign minister and the president in the same helicopter, even though there were apparently three that were traveling together.

What -- you know, as someone who's obviously used to this military chain of command, we know that there was a security official onboard, as well. Does this strike you as odd?

LEIGHTON: Well, I think there's always the possibility of rank intimidating people who are supposed to actually be the ones that are in charge.

So there is certainly the possibility that the rank of the president or an overbearing security official, or a protocol official that said you must get the president here at a certain time may have contributed to this.

So, you know, in many ways, the pilot may have felt, against his better judgment, to take -- to take the mission on and the president forward, because that's what was wanted and that's what was demanded of him.

So there's -- there's definitely a possibility in, you know, a military hierarchy. And it's certainly true in a society like Iran's. There's a lot of obedience given to that hierarchy. So the pilot may be in charge, nominally. And in the U.S., that advice

of the pilot would have certainly been -- have been a key factor in the decision to go or not to go. But there's always the chance that rank would have had a factor in this, and it could have potentially overwhelmed good judgment and made it a situation where, against his better judgment, the pilot decided to fly anyways. So that's a possibility.

And Paula Hancocks pointed out something that is actually quite true. The weather at the point of origin may have been OK, have been quite good. And with changing weather, which is a very common occurrence in mountainous regions like this, the original assessment may have actually been faulty.

So it may have been perfectly fine to take off from the area on the Azerbaijan border. But it may not have been fine, especially if you're flying at low altitudes, to continue the mission. And by the time that you're in the middle of something like that, it may be too late to get out of it.

NEWTON: It is true, because the weather at that hour was getting progressively worse, as well, from what we know.

Colonel Cedric Leighton for us, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

And we'll be right back with more on our breaking news story in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:31:43]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

NEWTON: I'm Paula Newton. In our breaking news out of Iran, Iranian news agencies have now confirmed the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the country's foreign minister.

As you know, the helicopter went down yesterday in inclement weather. A search party was sent, and you are looking at a photo of the crash site right there.

The Iranian Red Crescent says there were no survivors. And now, Iran confirming that their president and their foreign minister has died -- have died.

I'm joined now by Trita Parsi, who's author of "Losing An Enemy: Obama, Iran, and The Triumph Of Diplomacy," and executive vice president at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

So much to get to here. I do, though, just right off the bat, want to get your reaction to the president of Iran dying in that helicopter crash.

TRITA PARSI, AUTHOR, "LOSING AN ENEMY": Obviously, this is going to be something that throws a major wrench into the wheels of the Iranian government and how it has planned to handle the next few years, mindful of the fact that the supreme leader is nearing the end of his life.

And one of the biggest challenges they will face is the succession crisis. The succession to the next supreme leader.

And Raisi was one of the contenders for that position. Some argue that he had been groomed to take over that position, and he is no longer there.

So there will be both that crisis as well as the crisis of holding elections within the next 50 days at -- in a country that is deeply divided, a deeply unpopular regime, and a population that increasingly have stopped casting votes, because they have lost faith in the belief that there can be change through the ballot box.

NEWTON: Yes. And Iran has stuck to that, what they call a democratic process, because it lends their regime legitimacy. And without any kind of a turnout there, they're going to wonder exactly how to retain any sense of legitimacy among Iranians who've already lost confidence in the regime.

Trita, I want to ask you, though, it is very complicated here, to really try and figure out what the reaction within Iran will be.

Do you suspect that a portion of the population, you know, agreed with President Raisi, understood that, for them, he was the keeper of a very conservative religious, hardline legacy that they wanted to keep in place, post-revolution?

PARSI: There certainly is a portion of the population that supports the regime and Raisi., I believe that it is a shrinking portion of the population over the course of the last ten or so years.

But there is also, of course, a segment of the population that, perhaps more than anything else, has a stake in some degree of stability in the status quo.

And clearly, a portion, particularly amongst young people, that have completely lost faith in the regime's ability to deliver for the population.

You will see those who will be mourning, and there will be others who will, perhaps we somewhat pleased.

But I think it is important to note, however, that this is not a president that was particularly impactful or much of a driving force behind any particular policies.

[00:35:06]

And as a result, it is not a critical person from within the regime that has passed, even though he potentially would have been the next supreme leader. It would be very different, for instance, had the previous president, Rouhani, died in a helicopter crash in the midst of the nuclear negotiations. That would have been a significant blow to those negotiations, precisely because he was a driving force of that process.

Raisi has not really played that role. He has, more than anything else, just been a caretaker of keeping a degree of stability until the succession to the next supreme leader arrives.

NEWTON: And yet, you know, we have the supreme leader. We haven't heard from him since they have confirmed the death. We do expect, though, that he will likely speak in the coming hours. He says there will be no disruption.

What do you think will happen in terms of the power vacuum now that inevitably is there, even though the supreme leader is obviously still in charge? What do you think the impact of that will be?

PARSI: I don't think that impact will be very significant. I think, rather, what may happen is that, if this ignites a much more vicious fight for who should take over the supreme leadership position, that so far, they've tried to keep a very -- a process that is mostly behind the scenes and not let a lot of it leak out.

But if this ignites something that ends up becoming much more open and vicious, it could have one significant implication for the United States.

If the regime ends up in some sort of a gridlock and debilitating crisis, its ability to rein in some of its allies, Syria and Iraqi militias that the Iranians have supported, armed, and trained, who they have used to -- you know, to project power in the region. But who also have their own interests. And part of their interest is actually they tend to be more aggressive towards the United States.

There currently is a truce, an uneasy truce, in which they have stopped their attacks on U.S. troops, partly because of pressure from Iran. But if that pressure cannot be sustained, we may end up seeing a situation in which these attacks against U.S. troops may restart. And that would obviously be a very negative development for the United States and the Biden administration.

NEWTON: And Trita, what do you think will be the reaction among those who have suffered from this repressive regime, whether they remain inside Iran or are dissidents now, outside Iran?

PARSI: There certainly will be people who, because they have suffered tremendously under this regime, will find a degree of satisfaction, perhaps joy, in this.

But at the end of the day, I think most of them also recognized this was not the most critical person within the regime, and his passing is not going to create and is not likely to create a very significant crisis for the regime's survival.

NEWTON: Trita Parsi, we'll leave it there for now as we continue to follow this breaking news. Really appreciate it.

And joining me now on the phone is CNN senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen.

You will have seen his reports here just a few weeks ago, in fact, from Iran, but over dozens of times. Fred, really glad to have you on the line. I want to get your reaction, first and foremost.

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Yes. I mean, I think that, obviously, this is a huge shock for those in power in the Islamic Republic.

And I think one of the things that we've seen over the past, I would say, like six to -- 15, 16 hours after the helicopter went missing was serious efforts, especially by the supreme leader of Iran, who, of course, is of advanced age and has had some frail health in the past, to really try and make sure that there is stability right now in that system of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

I thought that it was quite significant that he himself immediately chaired a meeting of the national security council and, after that, actually was seen in vision on state TV, assuring people that there would be a continuation of the government's affairs.

So I think right now, for those in power, projecting stability in the Islamic republic, which actually goes to what -- what both your guests were saying, as well, that that is, of course, right now tantamount and very important.

I would also say that Ebrahim Raisi, I was actually at his presidential election when he was first elected. And at some of his first speeches after he was elected. I would tend to agree that, as far as presidents in Iran go, he wasn't or didn't have the time to be as influential, for instance, as Hassan Rouhani. Those, of course, were very different times also between the West and Iran.

I would, however, say that the foreign minister, Hossein Amir- Abdollahian, was certainly a very impactful foreign minister for Iran. And I don't think that that can be underestimated. I followed his work and what he did since basically 2015, since he was the deputy foreign minister in -- for Middle Eastern affairs, spending a lot of time in Syria.

[00:40:03]

But also, if you look at recently, when you add that flare-up between Israel and Iran, it was really Hossein Amir-Abdollahian who toured the region, who sort of tried to calm things down, not between Israel and Iran, but certainly, as far as the region there was concerned.

So I think that he was definitely someone who set the foreign policy for Iran. Also a big influence on the relations of Iran and the United States.

And so, therefore, I do think that there is going to be a void right now in the Iranian foreign ministry, as far as Iranian foreign policy is concerned, as of course right now, they will be looking to see what the future holds.

As far as I know, once all the ceremonies have taken place, the burials and all of that, they will have to call for presidential elections in about 50 days. That certainly is going when to be a key time for the Islamic Republic of Iran to see where it goes next politically, presumably where it has been going over the past three, four years. But certainly, who's going to lead all of that and who's going to be part of that government?

And especially as far as foreign policy is concerned, should be very, very interesting to follow to see where they go next -- Paula.

NEWTON: Yes. And you mentioned such a good point. We have been talking about the president, but as you said, the foreign minister, he -- there was quite a lot of nuance to the way he conducted foreign policy for Iran. In fact, Axios reported that last week, the U.S. and Iran, in separate rooms with Oman as a mediator, were talking about how to try and de-escalate things in the region.

So I want to get your take on if you think anything will change, given that there is a power vacuum there, as well. These are crucial times, obviously, throughout the entire region. And pivotal, perhaps, even at this hour is what Israel's reaction will be to all of this.

PLEITGEN (via phone): Well, I think you're absolutely right. And I think that that's -- calling the way that he led his office, and he conducted his affairs nuanced, I think, is very important. I think that Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was a much, much more of a hardliner and within the spheres of the hardliners in Iran that, for instance, Javad Zarif was.

Javad Zarif was also quite close to the supreme leader. But as far as the apparatus of the Revolutionary Guard, the military forces, and also a lot of the hardline clergy is concerned, I would say that Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was definitely much more ingrained into all of that.

And if you look at some of the foreign policies that he conducted -- and this was quite interesting to see when Ebrahim Raisi was elected president. We had actually spoken to Hossein Amir-Abdollahian just shortly before that. And all the things he had told us became the foreign policies of Iran.

So there is a very hard line towards, obviously, the United States, but at the same time, of course, they did have those efforts to try and revive the Iran nuclear agreement, which so far have not really born any fruit and are sort of on standstill right now, but they certainly did attempt to do that.

But then also, especially in that time when you look at after that that flare-up now with the Israelis, where it really seemed as though, for a while, Israel and Iran were on the brink of a much more wider, possibly for the region catastrophic war, he was quite instrumental in trying to calm all of that down.

He traveled the region. He informed, for instance, a lot of Iran's -- not just allies, but other countries in the region, of Iran's response to -- to the bombing of that embassy compound.

And so certainly, he is someone who definitely took the foreign ministry by the reins. And it's going to be -- it's going to be interesting to see what they do next as far as foreign policy is concerned, because on the one hand, of course, there is the direction of the foreign ministry.

But at the same time, of course, it also takes someone very strong in charge of the foreign ministry to form those policies, to travel the region, and of course, also to have that clout among other regional leaders, as well, Paula.

NEWTON: Yes. Certainly, from what you're describing, he certainly had a lot of latitude in foreign policy and wielded that power as he could with the regime.

Fred, I want to ask you before you go, I don't think a Friday went by in Iran that you didn't go to Friday prayers. President Raisi was really closely tied to, certainly, the religious life in Iran and the fact that the supreme leader is the supreme leader, endowed, obviously, by -- by, in this Muslim country. And those devote Iranians that follow him. What do you think the reaction will be in those religious devotees?

PLEITGEN (via phone): Well, I think that among the religious devotees and the sort of religious conservatives that we all saw, very often, of course, at Friday prayers in Tehran, but actually also managed to go to Friday prayers in Mashhad when Ebrahim Raisi was on hand. This was shortly after his election. That certainly is his center of power. That's where he's from. He's affiliated with a religious society in Mashhad, in Eastern Iran, which of course, is extremely powerful in Iran, as well.

So there's certainly -- and you saw yesterday also that once the helicopter went missing, that people there were calling for folks to come out and pray.

So I definitely think that it would be, obviously, a huge shock and blow to them.

[00:45:05]

At the same time, we can already see -- this is obviously something that -- that always happens when high-profile officials or militaries get killed or die in Iran, that he's already being called a martyr.

So the whole concept of the martyrdom will certainly endear him to a lot of the very conservative religious people, very pious religious people who had been his backers, really. That really has been the backbone of the support for Ebrahim Raisi, which I think some of the guests were saying, of course, right now, the Islamic Republic of Iran is going through some division, going through some difficult political times.

But that was definitely the sort of bedrock of support, not just for the religious conservatives, but for Ebrahim Raisi, as well. And of course, there was talk of him being in the running of possibly

becoming the next supreme leader, even though it was really unclear where that stood at the current time.

But yes, I mean, it definitely will be a shock to them. At the same time, of course, there is always a succession that goes on. And I think they will be prepared for this. They will find a new president. And certainly, most probably, someone who, as far as the convictions are concerned, will probably be fairly close to Ebrahim Raisi, who himself was more devoted to domestic policy issues, I would say, than foreign policy. Didn't really see him that much on the foreign policy beat.

He recently visited Vladimir Putin. He obviously, on the day that he was killed in that helicopter crash, met with the president of Azerbaijan. But aside from that, the foreign policy really was up to Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

But as far as domestic policy is concerned, of course, he was very much a big figure.

But I would also agree that he, in the time that he was in office, didn't really have time for any sort of reforms, nor was he inclined to those reforms.

So I do think that fairly quickly, they will be able to find a new president and hold new elections, Paula.

NEWTON: Fred Pleitgen for us. I really thank you for jumping on the phone with us, and we will continue to listen to your reporting in the coming hours. Fred Pleitgen for us, appreciate it.

And stay with us. We'll be right back with more of our breaking news coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:50:50]

NEWTON: I'm Paula Newton. The breaking news out of Iran. Iranian news agencies have confirmed the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the country's foreign minister.

Their helicopter, carrying nine people in total, went down on Sunday in Iran's East Azerbaijan province after the president and other officials attended a ceremony for the opening of a new dam near the border with Azerbaijan.

Now, rescuers had faced difficult weather conditions overnight, including cold weather, heavy fog as they scrambled to locate the crash site.

I want to bring in our senior White House reporter now, Kevin Liptak, who's been following all of these developments, as well as the reaction of the Biden administration. Kevin, good to have you with us. You have been following the

president, who's now traveling in Michigan. I mean, look, we discussed earlier that any kind of reaction from the Biden administration would be delicate. But -- but so, too, will be Israel's reaction and any influence the United States may have on that.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and I think that's part of the reason why the White House and why the Biden administration, writ large, have been so careful today about what they're saying and what they're not saying as details emerge from the ground.

And certainly everything that President Biden and his team say going forward will be parsed not only in Iran, but certainly around the world as they look for signs of how the U.S.-Iran relationship, contention will go forward, now that this has happened.

And I think when you talk to officials inside the White House, there's not a great hope that this will change anything, certainly, in the upper echelons of the regime in Tehran. They don't expect sort of a softening of the hardline positions that we've seen adopted over the last several years.

But I think what they're looking for mostly is to contain any of the volatility that could be contained in what's going on now. And certainly, when it comes to Israel, President Biden's overarching goal amid this crisis has been to prevent this conflict from spreading into a wider regional war and to prevent the United States from being dragged closer into conflict with Iran.

And you saw that just in the last several months in this tit-for-tat back and forth between Israel and Iran. You saw the United States come to Israel's defense. You saw Iran fire drones and missiles towards Israel for the first time.

That had been a point of real fear inside the White House that that could sort of spiral out of control. And they do feel like they were able to successfully contain that.

And part of that is because there have been these quiet, indirect back-channel conversations between Washington and Tehran, sort of sending the message that they do not want this conflict to escalate any further.

Now that there is sort of a vacuum at the very top of the Iranian regime, what the White House will want to do is try and ascertain very, very quickly what Raisi is replacements intentions are. And certainly, the supreme leader sort of has the ultimate say in the U.S., sort of feels like they know where he stands.

But when you talk about those underneath him and the foreign minister in particular, they will want to get a better read of how those new people in those positions will adopt their positions going forward. And I think that's going to be an important thing for President Biden to do now, particularly at a very fragile moment in the Gaza war, as the U.S. tries to secure the ceasefire and hostage deal; as the U.S. tries to broker this broader regional agreement with Saudi Arabia, the goal of which had been trying to provide a greater bulwark against Iran.

All of that is sort of the context and the backdrop with which the president, I think, is sort of digesting this news now.

NEWTON: And yet, in their efforts in the last few weeks to try and de- escalate the situation and work through those back channels, even most recently as last week, is that opportunity now perhaps lost? I mean, obviously, in Iran for at least a couple of months, if not longer, they are going to be scrambling, really, to re-establish political power there.

[00:55:06]

At what point is there just not going to be that latitude, which could also, in fact, impact those militias and those proxies that are backed by Iran?

LIPTAK: I think, probably, the hope is that it's not entirely lost, that it could be delayed somewhat. And I think that that is probably the goal of the Biden administration now, is to try and keep whatever relations and whatever backchannels they had with the Iranian government on the same track that they were on before.

But at the end of the day, some of these back channels are pretty flimsy. The U.S. doesn't have diplomatic relations with Iran. They don't have the direct conversations, for example, over Iran's nuclear program that had once sort of been a hallmark of the relationship.

And so I think the goal now is to try and keep things stable, to try and prevent the volatility from creating a situation where President Biden can't sort of control the region.

And when it comes to the proxies, you know, that had been something that President Biden has been trying to do for months and months and months, is to try and contain the fallout from -- from those proxy groups, including the Houthis in Yemen and also groups in Iraq and Lebanon, who have taken shots at American troops in the region. The U.S. has retaliated against those proxies.

But again, the overarching mission that President Biden has had is to prevent this from becoming a direct U.S.-Iran conflict. That's something he very much is seeking to avoid.

NEWTON: Uh-huh. And they will continue, obviously, on those efforts. Kevin Liptak for us. Thanks so much for jumping on. Really appreciate it.

I'm Paula Newton. I will be back with more of our breaking news coverage right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)