is mountainous so we don't know yet. hopefully the president will be found safe and sound. but we are waiting for further news just like everyone else. they met with the president of the republic of other by john and on the border area of 10 are great. a, a major project and so obviously the foreign minister would be a part of the delegation. the president was also planning to visit a couple of provinces in the north. he does travel a lot throughout the country, i think said that he we have 30 provinces and i think every year he try, he's promised to travel to each province at least one. so he is constantly on the move. uh but um this time round its uh its cause obviously a concern for everyone. people are concerned but uh we are in a hospital. oh,

it is now $1600.00 g and t. and for those of you just joining us, we are covering breaking news out of the wrong helicopter, caring. the radian president abraham, right? you see under the foreign minister has gone missing in bad weather conditions in the north of the country present, right? you see, it was reportedly on his way to the city of to breeze and move in iran. as you see the near the border with as a by john iran says rescue teams are still searching for the crash side. ambulance has also been sent to the area and it was a right you say we understand was in the region to enroll res, them and also to hold folks with the as a by johnny president. well, this is want around the interior in minnesota and the cd told state television just after the opening of the called the fighting them and the kids can see them in the presence of the president on the return journey, the president and others accompanying him or coming back in several helicopters, one of the helicopters was forced to make a rough landing due to bad weather conditions and fog in the area. now various

rescue teams are moving in different directions in the area, but in view of the fog and the bad weather conditions, it will take time to get to the location of the helicopter. things are under control and rescue teams of doing that work. we hope it will be done as soon as possible. and people meanwhile, have been gathering around around to pray for the countries president, your watching scenes from a shop around the 2nd to most popular city in the east of the country, which is also the best place of president why you see it. well that's now go to our correspondent russell said he joins me from the reading and capital. tyrone russell, obviously this has been a, a developing story for several hours now. took us through what we know at the stage as well in the morning today in the morning present of iran abraham, racy. so he's the head of the government. the iran and 2nd in command head of state is agreement either under somebody. so the bank where you see them with the that you're writing top diplomats are seeing,

i mean i have to lie young. they were attending a certain morning. i mean the gracious that i'm one of them alongside the running us. that'd be johnny board there. and also this integration ceremony, and that was forced into your, at the outset page on the president, him home of the and the other top diplomats, and for additions from mazda, of age on, as well. so after the integration ceremony 3 headquarters, they took off from the region and were heading to where the city of tempe is in the one of the largest city near on, which is taking part taken place in the north and part of the, the country to the tools that had to go up stairs, landed safely, but the had a cough that was carrying. president o'brien bracy, the the, the for the minister christine, i mean off the line. yeah. and then also the governor of the east as that page on programs that had to go up there has crashed, has crushed in a corporate mind that is cold. so boon which takes place between jo 5 and

that's the gun roughly around 100 kilometers away from the city, off temporaries where the president and his team were had him. and the running red crescent is saying that they the last time that they had a g p, a signal from did that they had to go up. there was a location very much close to the corporate mine with the sun going. and also just briefly before the, before the crash that has been a phone conversation with the someone on the had to go up there. and also a top authority in the city of deputies. but the connection was sporadic. it was quite weak. they could not on this signed what was happening with the had to go up there as of now, we do not know whether they had that the crash happened because of the technical problems or whether it was because of the that the harsh weather conditions. however, the authorities are saying that with the place where they had to go up there,

a crash is mountainous down to the forest is for the it's a rainy time. in the last couple of weeks we have seen the slides in the region. so that's a reading conditions are very more challenging. the weather is extremely challenging and they had to go up, there just crashed over there. as of now, the rescue teams, you're running the cars that cause a scene that they have deployed more than for the teams. but due to the harsh weather conditions, they're not able to conduct every risk group operations. just this teams are afraid to on the grounds. and they say that one of the teams of this 40 is now a 14 to the, to, to, to the, had to go up there that i bought to reach to the, had a quarter that somebody poor suggest that within an hour they would be able to to, to reach to the headed corporate or however, as of now, none of the teams, none of the rest of the workers had been able to reach to the had to go up there and to see whether the president, the, for the minister, the local governor,

are safe or not, whether they are injured or whether they are having a more serious health condition. then also, on the other hand, the med buckley, the head of the running an armed forces. also say that he has for the army to mobilize to the boys who means necessary. also, the medical institutions here are mobilized witnesses, that the medical teams are on their way. there was presidents, the ministers, the m p 's art onto on the way to test to do if there is to attempt to dispatch get forced to coordinate the rescue a force so that the highly coped or crashes or the vehicles classroom crashes or something that happens quite frequently in this country, i'm mostly there at least because the writing of using industry has been on the sections by the western world, particularly by the usa in the last 4 decades. and the coupons, the vehicles that are being used are quite out dated and the reading majorities are not able to replace them to remove them with the more updated sophisticated

technologies here. that's why whenever there is a report of the crash, the stories has to be taken assume it is serious. but in this case, it is even more extremes. because that had to go up, there was carrying the head of the government and found the company's top diplomats alongside with some of the other other re i piece and also the red new toilet. these are quoting on nations to conduct the prayer ceremonies for the house of those were in the had a corporate or so according to the read new constitution in case of an immediate death of the head of the government, the president. so the rise, the 1st wise process takes the job, takes the office by the approval of the supreme leader, and the company within 50 days needs to go to an election. and to like the new president. in this case she is mohammed must be it. who's the 1st wise president, and of course now as that are not confirmed the report about the house of the president. it's maybe too early to talk about that. but in case of any that being

reported, that is the process that's going to take place in, in, in, in, in the country. however, the district is extremely serious. here. we can understand the from the language so that the tone of the language that has been used by the learning students by the uranium or taught it is through data official statements. russell said of that with the very latest for us, from tyrone the arabian capital. thank you, russell will be getting updates from russell as and when we hear any news. well, let's go to our panel and joining me in our studio now i'll do 0 correspond ollie hutchins used extensively. it coveted around to for us. i'm also joined by logic is where he's a professor of contemporary me, at least in the politics of castle university. i mean, it is thought with you because you were literally just telling me that you understand the supreme and national security council. i hope i've gotten that correct is meeting as we speak and it's chad by the supreme data, the self. what should we read into that or not? that means, of course there's something very big in the country happening. and of course,

when you see the president missing that's, that's the biggest use for it at all. no a vessel for why the president is missing the house and what's the fate and what's after? he's all the questions that of course, the supreme national security council should be addressing in the presence of i, the law firm and, and it's not actually usual that to the i, it's a law himself. i've had the, the such me things. he only had thoughts such me things and very big incidents or events. so for example, when should i money a general to the money was killed in iraq in 2020. so i'm in a headed to meeting today with the president missing and had to talk to crush. it's been reported of cost as the i'll because to be taken on the supreme need. that should be there to call the shots manager. we were talking earlier about the different language that's been used around this. this incident, miss ha,

landing to begin with and it was an accident. now we all hearing helicopter crashed to frontier official channels. so it has mounted in seriousness full deal with our to use to this. i think that's way of how the, how the news was built that would be reflected on how and then use will be announced price to my, my position. i was talking to early that i think talking about this meeting though . uh, let's by the supremely, that i think when i was, i'm expecting that things wouldn't be, you know, if some, if they have a conformational, what's happened that they wouldn't take some time. they will have this meeting, they will discuss, you know, the steps according to the constitution. they would think off, who is the future to find a minister, and then then they wouldn't make any kind of announcement they will take. they have time before making an announcement. i think it's exactly for the graduate to steps to make sure that they are in the right. everything announcing that i time,

let's not forget to get on see is the effect of someone using these kinds of occasions for play on its security. so now i, it was expected instead of intelligence minutes that have been entered on security, that would be absolutely standby. and i think there would be more, you know, vigilant about any push the benefits to any kind of use of this kinds of. okay. so i would, i would argue that you know, that they wouldn't be looking at any piece of news coming from deputies. i think based on that in the next few hours or less, eddie and they kind of an honest would be made based on that. so given that context, it's perhaps not so surprising that the local media has been quite so cautious with that coverage today. and of course, i mean, despite the fact of being transparent in competing the story telling people what's happening, let's say moment by moment. also, everything was draft the way the terms use, special was say, and how to report such a big news. i mean, he's the president. yeah,

he's number 2 in the country, but he's the president that the and then i need a repercussions for a vacuum in such a place is going to be in the got the, the, the system is going to try as much us as possible to, to tackle it before, it happens, rather than leave things for exploitation. now, with the social media search in your on with the channels and all the journalists treat, think i'm writing going tell it wrong. i think it was really a significant to see everyone within the same framework filled the moment. we're not reading about the concept conspiracy to theories for the moment and this proves that everything is under control, at least under the control of the establishment. no one is allowed to a broadcast, any kind of conspiracy theories,

at least from them. main outlets because we have main outlets in the wrong. we all send me all fishes also senior one. there are the popular oxys. what the moment it's, it seems, everything is on the control alley high sion margie was very pleased to stay with me as part about tunnel here. i do want to bring our audience up to date though because we've received a statement from the chief of staff of ron's armed forces, mom and by gary. he's just issued an order for the mobilization of results as saying in a statement, all the facilities, equipment and capacity is on the, the, on the call. and the police come on should be used to provide relief and search for the helicopter of the president. and his companions, well let's go back to tyrone now the reigning capital that we can speak with of us as lonnie. he's a senior research fellow at the center for middle east strategic studies. thank you so much for your time of us and for joining us on al jazeera up at this very, very critical moment fuel country. you're standing in tyrone at the moment. so let

me start by asking you to take the temperature of the conversation as we speak, as well as we speak. and nobody knows what exactly has happened and how the president and the foreign minister and the 2 other local officials are. you know, because the situation is quite complicated. i have been to the area of the, you know, there is now adverse weather condition, bins, fog, and it as it is getting darker, it is becoming more difficult because the, the sick rescue oppression teams. they cannot use every, all the way he causing soothing jones or helicopters because of the weather condition. and most of it is being done on the ground. and that's why it as being a somehow time consuming. there are questions and everybody's waiting to hear that what exactly has happened, whether the crash has been a, you know, a very, by the serious one. or maybe there has been an emergency landing. but to, you know,

as the time goes on, you know, hopes are decreasing because the condition is getting a much worse and the risk getting darker. but i think we need to wait till the last moment that we have a final and official conformation. that if any risk you team has, you know, arrive at the saw. so i have found and looked at the helicopter. but the, what is it being felt hearing to run is mostly the feeling of onset and see. and many officials, teams that and even the public are waiting to hear a uh, let's say, accurate on a credible on a, let's say a, an official conformation that how the president and the other officials are now. okay, a very, very anxious moment for iran. we've seen huge crowds of people come out to pray for the president and the other people on the plane. we saw them coming out and massage

and cool. i wonder if you can perhaps describe for our view is what president, right. you see means for a ron, not just as a president that but as a 9 and, and as a religious figure to how did people think of him? uh uh, well, uh, you know, this incident a few days before that the new parliament bullet start. it's working in the coming days is quite important because uh, you know, in case that it's linked to jobs, that's what is exactly happened. but in case of the worst scenario, i think there will be serious questions that in case of an election in the country who will be the new president or even in foreign minnesota was on the helicopter as well. and the case of is serious on measure foreign policy developments in the region and the wrong with other countries. i think this is also quite a significant. and so,

but the impacts of this issue that on how this will impact the was that mistake politics side as well as it's foreign policy, i think is a question that may be watch from outside from the inside. as it is said, the. 3 people need to pray, i think this indicates the seriousness of the situation above. and uh, because, you know, in case that if they want to, uh, the 1st vice president will need to assume the responsibility in case, you know, there was a bad accident for the president of the, the heads of did you do, should we as well as the legislative branch will lead to work with the 1st wise president in order to prepare for an election and who will be the head of the parliament in the upcoming parliament is also a question that is begging to be asked of us has been a lot of talk about around safety record and

a lot of the blame for that has been pointed at us sanctions. i wonder if that's actually being discussed right now and wrong. obviously this was a helicopter that has been sanctions in one way or another since 1979. this was we understand the us helicopter as well, so pops up that potentially quite difficult to come by. is there a conversation going on at the moment in iran, about who's to blame here if this was indeed an accident as well? you know, the impacts of the sciences on the across parts has been an issue for the past years being discussed in the country. but as i was talking to sources on officials, what has happened today in the northwest and part of the country is mostly related to the weather condition. and it seems that may be due to the a nowadays, an appropriate by side. this might have happened and i'm not exactly sure that this has been related to the, in the, you know, a,

a take me cause failure or something has to do with, you know, the impact of those sciences. it has been mostly, you know, the weather conditions, which has not also has made it more complicated for the risk you seems in order to locate the helicopter. sony, the, a senior research fellow at the center of the middle east strategic studies joining us from the uranium capital. thank you for your time with us here on to 0. we have like a good time to take a closer look at a rounds aviation safety record that have been at least 22 faithful crashes since 2000 and according to around the evaluation safety network, those have killed more than 1200 people. arabian government officials and generals are among those who have died in that number. a plane was carrying the sports minister crashed to last year at killing one of his advises and back in 2006. a minute treat jet crashed and killed a come on to the revolutionary god,

not to have the blame. and the past has been pointed at us sanctions, which has made it difficult to import new aircraft or even spare parts, and that's forced around to ground molding hoff. it civilian aircraft or earlier we spoke to mohammed mirandi and arranging political am, unless he says the hostile weather conditions we're seeing it around supported with as advise you on has made rescue operations incredibly difficult on the helicopter was fine in a mountainous region. it's also a dense forest as well. uh, there were 3 helicopters and uh there was, uh, the um, the, the, the, the pilots uh was forced to make a hard landing. this is what we've heard so far. uh and uh, the rescue teams are moving in that direction, but it does have a uh, as i said, this mountain is and is there for us. and it's very foggy. and it's also raining.

so it's going to be sometime positively before we get news of the president from the opened his delegation that was rich. going to the city of type fees from the board, right. we've seen footage of the area. there's a very heavy fog as we speak. we've had the last few weeks anyway, i'm actually we've had a lot more rain and even snow than we usually would have. during this time of year, we had a, a, a, a, a flood in the city of massa to the north east of the country, which um, killed a number of people. so uh, this weather is not usual for this time of year. and the region is mountainous, so we don't know yet. hopefully the president will be uh,

found safe and sound. but uh we are waiting for further news just like everyone else. they met with the president of the republic composite by john and on the border area. okay, now great a, a major project. and so obviously the foreign minister would be a part of the delegation. the president was also planning to visit a couple of provinces in the north. he does travel a lot throughout the country, i think said that he we have 30 provinces and i think every year he try, he's promised to travel to each province at least one. so he is constantly on the move. uh but um this time round its uh its cause obviously a concern for everyone. people are concerned, but uh we are a wholesale as well that speak to mohammed ali shavani,

who's the edits of i'm much don't media and then i'm list on iran who joins us now live from london. thank you so much for your time with us on al jazeera right now. let's start with what the rest of the wilds is. thinking at the moment time to stand. present 5 and us presidents are biding, has been briefed. we're hearing from the state department saying everyone's watching very closely. what does everyone watching for i think they're looking for the potential immediately. politically. it's uh, there are 2 ways of looking at this. on the one hand, he's the president of the country. this means he's the executive branch. he has some major se over for a policy. having said that, there's a to add it to your power and you want being there's a supreme leader is an overarching decision making structure, which means that the president bow being important. he's a part of a bigger actor. so in that respect, i think what we can look forward to is probably the continuity governance, continuity in terms of policy. and in case there is

a news that the president is either incapacitated or if he has passed away. there are provisions within the constitution that guides us on what's probably going to call next. so number one is the 1st vice president is found to enter office, but the because we need to subsequent the, the 1st 5 president together with the chief justice in the apartment speaker. also obviously your next is within the next 50 days. and that's where the immediate political ramifications made. easy. uh huh. i see was elected in 2021 on the back of the lowest turn out presidential election long history. part of the reason why most. ready so not most of all the majority of waters chose not the cast and it was because of the. ready candidates were disqualified with one exception. so if the 40 decided to use the potential passing of lacy as an opportunity to open up the political space to allow people to participate in the elections. that would be

a major problem for the system. if they don't, and they continued to time from the political space, i think the recent bi election as a new one, a flight instructor, for instance, just the that they do it by elections and do a run off into our constituency. and we saw to a point it 8 percent turn up 92 percent the board. it didn't bother to even show up . so that in itself says a lot. so i think we just didn't have to wait and see what actually happened. because keep in mind it could be that these incapacitated by them being capacity as well. that's another thing to look indeed, i don't want to get into speculation. obviously we're waiting for official confirmation of anything related to this incident. but from what you're saying, it sounds like, given that he's part of a, this much longer decision making infrastructure that exists, that there would be very little change, particularly to of foreign policy. certainly. that is absolutely correct. and i

would add even further that about the slow my for i'm going to start mama dealt with that. he was very successful in promoting international diplomacy. and we saw the landmark achievement of the 2015. you bought a new car deal current for our last or is foreigners think about this themes in diplomatic affairs. for instance, the indirect tops with the us or the past to us to try to revive the 2015 deal happening over seen in the by his deputy. the deputy form is very tiny. so it's not just not the president as only partially put off on a policy this specific for a minister as also being formed as active it impactful competitors beat assessor. and it's for these 2 reasons why really believe that we will see a continuity of governance with the continuity of policy as well. very interesting elections. one of your spoke about if there is an election, it would be an opportunity for the senior leadership as a country to decide at that point whether or not they wanted to open it up for more participation, so to speak. and,

and you're suggesting that the by elections haven't indicated that the is that inclination at all? do you think that there might be a more popular push within the country if, if there was an election to be called for more powerful in space? that's the story that we've seen for the past several years before the 2021 elections. we saw the same pattern of mass as qualifications into 2020 parliamentary elections for the past several years. the authorities, if you wanna have strong mindful that the impact has to be record a lot of times both and legislative and essential election goals. i think the nation not to open up despite the pressure from below, despite the pressure for probably some forces. howard this incident, depending on the ultimate outcome, maybe they find a wakeup call for the authorities to open up because if they don't, i think again, it does depend on that. we're seeing that trajectory is towards the lessons political participation on the part of the electorate. and when people decide that

they can't do cause change to the final thoughts, then you and we'll talk will eventually what to make us how that we've been receiving the information about what's happened, a number about timeless terror. i've been talking about how, i guess, to an extent, well behaved the local media has been in terms of, of sticking to the government lines. has that surprised? you know, i think we've seen the political space shrink in new orleans. similarly, we've seen the media space trick as well. having said that, i think it's genuinely at this point. it's just the case of the big a lot of information. so nobody really seems to know what's going on. and i think in the absence. so for the information, most people will probably be away from what, any kind of speculation. and before i let you go, i know you do a lot of work specifically looking at the foreign policy space when it comes to iran. obviously we've been talking a lot here about aviation security and sanctions. is there an and go within iran

and up the west, given the status of, of the asian industry now and around that. and perhaps could this be for the us a more anger and fury and, and to west and sentiment. it's it's hard to say in this specific case, because 1st of all, this was an uh, fixed wing aircraft. this was a, had a copper. the 2nd thing that this specific kind of cockpit was, was us apply it as i've been to your previous case. i've spent a 30, the sections of civilian aircraft as a passenger, things impacted me. you want to directly, you have absolutely enjoy the fury towards the targeting ordinary people said that this is a very different story. this is about specific government aircraft. that's all i think that would be used by the what 3 months. so i think these are 2 different dynamics as things and just vastly in terms of moving forward from here. we've all the space in the supreme national security council can being, it's being taken very, very seriously. and at the very highest levels,

we've seen the vice president, we understand he's on his way to, to breathe, to try to coordinate search and rescue efforts that what are you looking for in the next few hours and days and not just in terms of, of information that will obviously, hopefully gets from the government as soon as, as something is found. but what are you looking for beyond that? what kind of nuances should we be be i guess keeping an eye out for it in the coming days? i think the 1st, the only really big thing to look at is what is the physical state of depressed? and i think the more options and just incoming a alive and great. and i mean there's, there's also the sort option which is that you end up with the head of government tools incapacitated. and what does that mean? how is that incapacitation determine what options as a triggered under the constitution? because again, keep in mind the constitution says that the 1st 5 percent must it.