Charles Michel, President of the European Council, faced widespread criticism from several European Parliament members for his condolence message following the death of Raisi. Earlier in the day, EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also offered condolences over Raisi's death, stirring same reactions by several MEPs.
Representatives have voiced their objections using the hashtag "#NotInMyName."
President Ebrahim Raisi's death in a helicopter crash is likely to impact the succession process for the 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
A new session of the Assembly of Experts, the body responsible for selecting the next leader of the Islamic Republic, was scheduled to begin on Tuesday, May 21. Whether the session will proceed as planned remains uncertain. Although Khamenei has declared five days of public mourning, the Majles (Parliament) has announced it will hold its session as usual on Tuesday.
However, Tuesday's session of the Assembly of Experts was particularly significant as an internal vote would be held on the opening day to determine the Assembly's new chairman and his deputies.
According to Iranian reporters Ebrahim Raisi who was the Assembly's most senior deputy chairman was the most likely candidate for the post of chairman. As the search was taking place for Raisi's body on Sunday, Iran International analyst Morad Veisi highlighted the significance of the session and Raisi's intended role in it. Since the election of the next Supreme Leader will depend on a relatively small group of clerics and politicians, the chairman’s role would be a crucial factor.
Meanwhile, alluding to conspiracy theories about the crash, Hossein Bastani, another Iranian analyst, reposted a line from one of his previous writings about succession in Iran while emphasizing that Khamenei's old age calls for more attention to succession in the coming round of the Assembly of Experts.
Bastani wrote: "The Leader has reached an age that insiders worrying for their interests in the future see no solution other than ripping each other apart." Most users commenting under the post were adamant that the helicopter crash was "engineered".
Several Iranian analysts, including Mehdi Khalaji, who spoke to Iran International TV in recent weeks, have said that Raisi was expected to play a key role as a kingmaker in the Assembly of Experts, potentially grooming Khamenei's son Mojtaba or a group of clerics for the country's leadership.
Although many speculated about Raisi being a contender for the position of Supreme Leader, analysts, including Khalaji, believe his role would have been limited to influencing the selection of the next leader. His task would have been to assist those operating behind the scenes in steering the Islamic Republic in a way that secures their power and financial interests.
In another talk show on Iran International, Khalaji said that as Khamenei made most of the key decisions in Iran and other politicians are not capable of handling major domestic political and international issues, his absence on the scene will bring about a serious crisis in Iran.
Key players, such as elements within the IRGC, may strike deals with others to seize political power. However, analysts suggest that the crisis may take much longer to resolve, potentially leading to the regime's collapse, similar to the Soviet Union's downfall, requiring the announcement of the end of the current regime and the start of a new one.
Khalaji, however, emphasizes that moderates or reformists have no chance of taking over the government due to a change in leadership, as this would imply a shift in ideology.
He suggests that the faction of the IRGC with economic ambitions is more likely to maintain the current ideology while negotiating some form of compromise with the rest of the world, breaking the deadlock in relations with the United States, and becoming a more acceptable international player.
However, Khalaji warns that the more likely outcome is "power falling into the hands of someone who has a weapon in one hand and the key to a prison in the other."
The helicopter that crashed while carrying Iran's president and foreign minister on Sunday did not have its signal system turned on or did not possess such a system, Turkish Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said on Monday.
Iranian authorities keep insisting that the wreckage of the helicopter was not found by a Turkish high-altitude, long-endurance drone, which was dispatched to help the rescue process. However, Turkish outlets claim the drone played a central role in finding the wreckage of the helicopter.
Uraloglu told reporters that since Iran fell within Turkey's area of responsibility for emergency response, authorities had checked for a signal from the helicopter after hearing it had crashed.
"But unfortunately, (we think) most likely the signal system was turned off or that the helicopter did not have that signal system," he said.
Three police officers were killed Sunday night following a gunfight which broke out after a police chase, with the assailant also losing his life.
According to a detailed report by the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency, “officers from Narmak police station were patrolling when they encountered a suspicious young man near his motorcycle. Upon detecting the police, the man immediately opened fire with his handgun, critically wounding one officer who subsequently succumbed to his injuries at the hospital”.
Tasnim identified the assailant as a well-known criminal involved in drug trafficking, describing him as a “top-level thug” as Iran cracks down on drug crime.
The situation escalated when police officers traced the suspect and attempted an arrest. However, the confrontation quickly turned deadly as the suspect engaged the officers with gunfire, killing two additional policemen and severely wounding two others.
“The gunman was ultimately neutralized by police fire during the shootout, ending his spree of violence,” added Tasnim.
The two officers injured in the exchange are now receiving urgent medical care in a local hospital, with their condition reported as critical.
After the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the Association of Families of the Ukrainian Plane Victims released a statement accusing him of complicity in the downing of the airliner.
The flight was shot down by two air-defense missiles fired by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on January 8, 2020, shortly after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport, killing all 176 aboard.
The group accused him of not only being complicit in maintaining open Iranian airspace during the shooting down of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 but also in actively obstructing the victims' families' quest for truth.
In July, Britain, Canada, Sweden, and Ukraine lodged formal complaints against Iran at the International Court of Justice, accusing the Islamic Republic of intentionally shooting down the plane. Additionally, in January, these nations submitted a complaint to the UN Aviation Council, seeking to hold Iran responsible for the aircraft's downing.
The association's statement highlighted Raisi's involvement as a member of the Supreme National Security Council on the night of the downing.
“We demanded a fair trial and punishment for him to confess to his crimes and taste the punishment. This opportunity was taken from us, but it must be said that we are not sorry for his death. We neither forget nor forgive the killers of Iran's children," the association's statement said.
In April, the Tehran military court sentenced the operator responsible for firing the missiles at the plane to 13 years in prison and ordered him to pay compensation. Among the military personnel accused, none of the high-ranking military or government officials of the Islamic Republic are named.