Iran’s president helicopter crash: Iranian President Raisi missing | LiveNOW from FOX

Iran’s president helicopter crash: Iranian President Raisi missing | LiveNOW from FOX

welcome back to live now from Fox and once again we do want to show you some video from the Iranian border with asheran as the search is now underway following a helicopter crash the helicopter carrying the Iranian president as well as his foreign minister and other officials and again we are continuing to follow this uh an official saying that both the lives of the Iranian president and his foreign minister were quote at risk following the helicopter crash saying quote we are still hopeful but information coming from the crash site is very concerning uh we do want to bring in Michael xantos who is a foreign policy expert to talk more about this breaking news and Michael thank you so much for joining us you’re very welcome and again information is still very scarce as this is a breaking news situation but what can you share with us well it is obviously clearly in doubt whether the running president and the foreign minister is still alive and it’s very easy to dismiss it because it’s often pointed out that the power is really in the hands of the supreme leader of Iran H and the Iranian revolutionary guard and other Security Forces but he was being groomed as a possible successor for the supreme leader of Iran that is the ultimate leader of Iran who’s 85 and not NE necessarily in good help and so there’s a variety of potential effects of this but one of them being that he was a possible successor to the current supreme leader of Iran so again details are very scarce and we were hearing from an anonymous official saying that uh the president’s life was uh at risk along with the foreign minister uh but not uh going beyond that if it were the case that the Iranian president was killed in this helicopter crash what would the impact of that be I think it could actually be significant in some less than obvious ways he was in himself a very much a hardliner so you see the hardliners the extreme hardliners in Iran unfortunately consolidating power but especially in a government that tries to take the name of God and say that that it’s divine wishes that they’re on it and that they’re serving um God behind it I think this is discrediting because even in a government that is not extremely religious and fanatic um when you can’t protect your leaders it can happen unfortunately and it’s scary to the best country God forbid even ours that um you know people do die in plane and helicopter crashes but it could be seen by the Iranian people as one more sign of incompetence it doesn’t exactly go along with them always saying that God is on their side and that us and Israel are Infidel so I think it is actually discrediting it might sound a little bit silly to say but they are constantly and only speaking in religion their leadership only claims legitimacy it sounds bizarre in today’s world 21st century based on religion alone and they claim that they will win because of their religious beliefs and that the United States and the West is evil so I think it’s discrediting and and in the less kind of a theoretical concept it it doesn’t reflect the competence of this country this government I mean the system that is running out of water it is can’t keep things cool as they have hotter and hotter Summers they barely have electricity they’re one of the largest producers of oil and natural gas and the average Iranian can’t afford gasoline and is struggling to buy food for his or her family so I think this crash is is discrediting and makes people the doubts in this regime grow within the country and again this information coming from the state run media when it comes to being transparent uh you know when might we expect additional details and just how accurate might they be I mean it’s hard to say but I mean you can’t cover up the if they did in fact die I mean it’s good that we’re being careful about it you can’t cover up the death of the president and foreign minister I think that you know in the next 24 hours hours and probably much less will start to gain Clarity they they can’t hide this um now it’s worth mentioning another high ranking official of Iran back in 2017 rafan Jani who used to be Central in the regime died of a heart attack at the age of 82 and suspicions were raised about Foul Play and the fingers by his own family seemed to be pointing at the regime itself so there’s even a possibility somewhat remote but not far-fetched that this could have been some sort of a assassination attempt if they survived or assassination if they died there could even be an element of Foul Play There are definitely going to be suspicions some legitimate and some crazy in in such a paranoid country because they have a murderous government remember this president had the nickname of the Butcher of tyan for the number probably in the thousands of executions he oversaw at the end of the 1980s he’s he was known or still is known as The Butcher of Tay R this is so in that kind of environment there’s all kinds of suspicions that inevitably will occur some well-based and some unfounded now according to reuer they’re uh quoting the interior Minister saying that the state TV that only one of the helicopters in a group of three had come down hard and that authorities were waiting further details when you’re talking about uh that one of three helicopters was the only one that came down hard again we did see a video that appeared to show very foggy conditions uh you know and and and talking about again uh the conspiracy theories out there do you extrapolate anything from that statement or again is this really just more of a waitand see situation it’s going to be largely a wait and see um if one of three helicopters in a convoy go down it’s a question of who was on it was the president and the foreign minister on the same helicopter are they down they can’t locate the helicopter which would be concerning although it’s hard to be feel bad for a president who’s known as the Brer of Baghdad and whose regime is responsible for the death of so many American soldiers and civilians around the world because Iran largest state sponsor terrorism but um they don’t seem to be able to locate as far as any reports that reached here the president or foreign minister you would think that there’s communication there has to be communication on intact helicopters you would think normally with the president that would be backup communication but he’s not necessarily unlike this country part of the military command and control um and he can sometimes even be almost relegated not according to the Constitution but in fact almost relegated to civilian uh to to like a figurehead if the supreme leader Kam many chooses because so much power is amassed in that supreme leader who’s very very aging so it is strange even in foggy conditions that they can’t seem and would be troubling if you care about their health and it’s hard to given the amount of deaths around the region Arab Israeli American British Etc linked to that regime but it’s it it’s strange that they’re not able to locate or confirm that they’re alive even that is strange and that makes me doubt that they’re still alive or they’re in at all good condition and let’s talk about Iran’s uh role in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas we have seen recently Iran growing bolder uh in their attacks typically as as you know they use proxies could this incident impact that strategy at all yes I really do think this is kind of discrediting they had a massive strike against Israel which was an entirely a dud there does appear to have been a few ballistic missiles that did reach and cause some limited damage to one Israeli Air Force Space but I suspect that’s because Israel’s EX atmospheric Interceptor the arrow 3 is the new newest and intercepts in outer space there’s actually video of an explosion in outer space from it and it’s probably very limited coverage and they probably figured with this Air Force Base they could just fly the planes off in eight minutes it would take a ballistic missile to hit or Israel may have hardened shelters able to Res resist anything but a nuclear explosion and even there they probably have contingencies so and I think that obviously the coverage will be ex extended you have hundreds of projectiles fired it is Israel and virtually all of them intercepted very much aad embarrassing to Iran Iran appears to have covered up that Israeli aunch cruise missiles destroyed the air defense of one of their major um nuclear sites is a huge warning that Israel has ability to strike with accuracy and impunity anywhere in Iraq so this is discrediting and the fact that they cannot even protect their president and foreign minister and despite the fact that their powers are limited and they’re not always aware of everything it is very discrediting they can’t even protect their leaders it’s going to raise doubts did somebody um within the regime murder them you know as as the power struggle grows with a potential succession they’re of course going to accuse Israel because they accuse Israel in the United States of everything or that’s very likely unless it’s just an obvious accident that they have to confess up to um and these are men with an incredible blood the president of Iran is the butcher begad there’s a lot of people in Iran who despise this government including the the president or perhaps the former president of Iran Michael xanto foreign policy expert thank you so much for joining us here on live now from Fox to really break down this breaking news we appreciate it you’re very welcome have a great weekend you too

Helicopter crash: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, and other officials crashed in the mountainous northwest reaches of Iran.

A massive rescue operation is underway in the fog-shrouded forest as officials ask the public to pray.

Officials say the lives of President Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian are at risk following the crash.

“We are still hopeful but information coming from the crash site is very concerning,” the official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Foreign Policy Expert, Michael Szanto joins LiveNOW from FOX’s Stephanie Coueignoux to talk about the latest.

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