good morning to you. i am richard lui and we have

breaking news out of the middle east, a special msnbc our from iranian state tv, they are reporting that iran's president, ebrahim raisi was killed in a helicopter crash on sunday but the president was traveling back from a visit to the iranian border with azerbaijan when the helicopter he was traveling in made a crash landing. for hours, rescue workers were searching for the wreckage and any survivors. they have found the crash site and there were no survivors. bad weather is believed to have contributed to this crash, and it certainly slowed down a search and rescue efforts, going on for hours. u.s. senate majority leader chuck schumer, earlier on sunday, saying intelligence authorities informed him that there is, quote, no evidence of foul play in this crash, adding that it looks like an accident. it is still being fully investigated. now, the death of iran's president, comes during a volatile time in the region. iran and israel have exchanged attacks directly on each other just last month. militant groups, backed by iran, have also attacked

israel, as well as western ships in the red sea. that is just part of it. the country's supreme leader, the ayatollah, remains in control over iran after this unfortunate news. let's go to chief foreign correspondent richard engel, richard, as you have been following this story, what is the right way to look at this, to summarize it, and what are the reactions that you are looking for, from the region? >> reporter: so, this was a shocking turn of events, helicopter crash. i am mostly hearing from sources, that foul weather, no foul play are believed to be responsible. the fact that the president was traveling in this area, in high fog does indicate that -- dense fog does indicate that the weather was most likely

a factor which is presumed to have been the factor. he was traveling from azerbaijan. a three helicopter convoy. one of the helicopters crashed. we first learned about this, about 12 hours ago, and that meant the period of darkness in iran with search parties, mountaineers, all dispatched to the areas, other aircraft as well. drones, but according to this -- according to the iranians, after 12 hours of searching, perhaps longer, but that is how long this has been in the public domain, we have been speculating what this meant, there was a presumption that he did not survive that helicopter crash, because the word went down in dense forest, the mountainous area between iran and azerbaijan. now, there are two questions. what happens in the short term, how does iran find a new

president? how does it find any leadership? and then, what happens for the future of iran, and the islamic revolutionary theocracy that has been in place since 1979? because race he was the perceptive successor, only one of two names ever mentioned in iran, and by the way, talking about the succession of the supreme leader is a taboo subject. this is not a country where you have, like in the united states, on cable channels or national television, we have an almost endless speculation about what will happen in two comes up. this is not something that is allowed to discuss, it is considered to highly sensitive, but now, this private conversation has been forced out into the open, because of the unexpected death of the president. those two questions will be, who takes over immediately, according to their

constitution, it should be the vice president, he is expected to have elections within 50 days, he might not do that, because these are uncharted times, they might want to hold off a little bit longer, while they try to work out what is the larger issue, which is, who is going to replace, now, the supreme leader ayatollah khamenei, this is something that something that the united states and israel will be watching extraordinarily closely because we are in the middle of a hot war in the middle east, a hot war that just last month had the potential of breaking out into a regional war with the united states, and with iran, because of the tensions. iran under racy, my understanding, through many conversations with intelligence sources did not direct the hamas october 7th attack, but

has certainly been supportive of it, certainly has celebrated it, certainly has been championing hamas, and it seems quite likely, according to analyst and intelligence sources that i have been talking to, that iran's external positions are not going to change, but in the immediate short term, they may have to be slightly more focused on domestic affairs, and it could be period in the short term in which they are not as interested in having a new escalator around with israel , a new as glittery around with israel through hezbollah potentially, just in the short term, because they have to short out these very significant leadership questions at home. >> whispering in nbc chief international correspondent keir simmons, who is in the region of this very breaking news story. as we are looking at some of the video before, which we recorded earlier on sunday, the thickness of this fog, as well as according to iran's state media, that many of these 40 or

more rescue teams were on foot for two kilometers, trying to get to the site, what are some of the conditions on the lead up and of course, the question that remains for many who are just joining us is, why, and how? >> reporter: it was clearly a very difficult effort, given the importance of those on board, a combined effort, and effort that pulled in anyone iran could find, friendly, to search for the helicopter, and see if there were any survivors. you can see on the pictures, it is madness terrain, president tracy was there to inaugurate a . it is over the iranian azerbaijani border, and it was foggy. as richard says, it was

absolutely foggy and we know that. keep in mind, this is a region i am in, where conspirators are using and finger-pointing is the norm. but pictures show this terrible weather and we have heard iranian officials announcing the death of the president tracy, we have heard iranian officials talk about the weather, so now, we will wait to see if it is now, you know, morning time, breakfast time, here, in the gulf, just across the water from iran. so, people will be taking this in, many people will be waking up to this news right now, and, how iran frames it, the way that iran talks about whether it is the weather, or whether they talk about issues with the helicopter, or whether they make other kinds of

accusations. keep in mind, no matter what the reality, many of those are possible, depending upon the politics in iran, with the supreme leader thinks is expeditious for him, that will be their primary focus at this point, they just lost a president, a foreign minister, primary focus for the leadership of iran are now will be ensuring stability in their own country, their own demented concern, and already, you heard ayatollah khamenei, the preemie supreme leader, even suppress the announcement that he had died, making a statement that he would be found, and also saying, don't worry, i'm paraphrasing, this will not disrupt the politics of the country. he will certainly be helping so. so, i think this -- these hours,

despite clear evidence of what is likely to have caused this, these hours will be undetectable. instability will be the driving force, thank you, in these coming hours, and that will be worrying leaders here in the gulf, where i am, all the way to washington. >> claudio lovato, as you are watching this video just like everyone else, getting the prelude to this breaking news that iran's president was killed in a helicopter crash and we just got that into us, overnight. what else do we know about this, as keir simmons was just saying, the president of iran was not the only person on this helicopter, the foreign ministers he was saying, also on this helicopter, unfortunately. >> reporter: that's right.

as well as, we are told, the governor of east azerbaijan. his name was malik as well, as of course the security detail, so there are several people but the two most important people who have died is the president and the foreign minister, so that means there will of course be a major shakeup in the government of iran following in the next few days and of course, moving up to the election. what we are probably going to see in the next few hours, is what we saw also overnight, when of course, this was news that was widely anticipated, there were indications that tracy lost his life in that crash, waiting until about half an hour ago to announce it officially. what we saw was a state media playing out prayers for gracie, there were also airing footage,

images of large pits of people, irani and spring for gracie. so what we expect the state media to do in the next few hours will be to show the outpouring, the morning by the iranian people, perhaps praying for him, whether that is an indication of what the general feeling of iran of course is, we don't know. state media in the way it operates will concentrate on that. now, as richard and kyrou were saying, we know that, it was very bad weather and foggy conditions because we have seen those images of rescuers, on foot, trying to reach the location of the crash, and it was very small visibility, just a few meters, as the state media said. in the end, when they reached

that site, a couple of hours ago, we got confirmation from state media that there was no sign of life, and only one hour later, anchors on the main channel, a state media in iran, wearing black, a clear sign of mourning, anticipating that news, that we were just waiting to hear, but it will be very interesting to see how this plays out. today, of course what we will see, we will see irani and people morning, we will see leaders reacting from around the world it will also be very interesting to see whether the ayatollah and other leaders will take this opportunity, perhaps, to stir emotions and blame influence, or foreign agents, from, for instance, israel or the united states, or whether they will just stick through what is most likely the cause of that crash, which as

far as we know, for now, bad weather, or perhaps a combination of bad weather and malfunction in the helicopter, that the president and prime minister were flying in. >> standby, we will take a short break with the question now, how will the united states react to this? what will they do in this latest development? we will approach that subject when we return on the breaking news, the death of iran's president, after this. esident,. with our highest concentration of pro-vitamins yet, infused with ingredients like biotin & collagen. strengthens hair bonds and repairs as well as the leading luxury brand without the $60 price tag. for stronger, healthier hair. ♪♪ if you know, you know it's pantene. ♪♪

smile! you found it. the feeling of finding psoriasis can't filter out the real you. so go ahead, live unfiltered with the one and only sotyktu, a once-daily pill for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, and the chance at clear or almost clear skin. it's like the feeling of finding you're so ready for your close-up. or finding you don't have to hide your skin just your background. once-daily sotyktu was proven better, getting more people clearer skin than the leading pill. don't take if you're allergic to sotyktu;

serious reactions can occur. sotyktu can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections, cancers including lymphoma, muscle problems, and changes in certain labs have occurred. tell your doctor if you have an infection, liver or kidney problems, high triglycerides, or had a vaccine or plan to. sotyktu is a tyk2 inhibitor. tyk2 is part of the jak family. it's not known if sotyktu has the same risks as jak inhibitors. find what plaque psoriasis has been hiding. there's only one sotyktu, so ask for it by name. so clearly you. sotyktu.

we continue following breaking news out of iran.

iran state tv announcing that the country's president, ebrahim raisi, killed in a helicopter crash on sunday. iranian tv confirming that the president of iran was killed in a helicopter crash but if you're just joining us here on msnbc, leading up to this news with the terms of a hard crash, not lost, unknown, in terms of where this helicopter was, that the president had boarded, along with two other helicopters, a total of three helicopters, again, according to iranian state media. we know now, according to their own state media, that the crash site you can see on screen in the upper left, in the north of iran, that the helicopter of iran's president, has indeed crashed, and no signs of life were found at this crash site. some of the video you can see

on the left side, that we have received from iran state media, as well, as is very clear here, that the fog, according to the storyline, up to today, is consistent with, if this video is close, the location of the crash site. claudio is still with us, as we look at, what might the reactions coming forward from this news, what should we be looking out for, not only from the region, but also from europe as well as the united states? in this region, as we have been discussing at the start of this hour, at the level of instability to begin with, was quite a notable level. >> reporter: of course, we just received the first reaction, which as you will expect, is coming from hamas, as you know, of course, iran and hamas were strongly linked.

iran has supported palestinian forces and hamas for a long time, financially and also with training. there was always speculation about how involved it could have been or how much it could have helped hamas during the october the seventh attacks, even though iran has always denied any direct involvement., has sent out a statement, in the last few minutes, saying that it offers its sincere condolences, to the iranian people, and the ayatollah, and i am misreading a bit of it, saying, we are confident the islamic republic of iran will be able to overcome this great loss, the deer irani and people have instant ancient institutions capable of dealing with the severe ordeal. now again, this is an official statement from hamas, they were expected to be some of the

first to react, now, it is about 7:20 in the morning here in rome, and the rest of continental europe, a bit earlier, of course in london and eastern parts of europe, so, we are still waiting for reactions from leaders, and it will be very interesting to see what they are, but this statement from hamas is interesting, but because it will say the ancient institutions, but it also means is that, clearly, as richard was saying earlier, the death of the president of iran doesn't really create major issues, in the way that iran is run, some because of the main leader of iran, the supreme leader, the ayatollah khamenei. and as

richard was also saying, the death of the president, ebrahim raisi was the main frontrunner to replace khamenei as a supreme leader. now really, iran still has a supreme leader, that is the leader that they answer to, the iranian government answers to, the president answers to, the supreme leader. so, this will only be a matter, let's say, finding the new president with the same, perhaps, hard-line policies, so as not to create any confusions, and in the way that this country is being run., the one immediate thing that we are seeing our reactions from around the world, we discussed

the reaction from hamas and we are waiting for reactions, as leaders across europe, especially here, are just waking up to the news. richard? >> news of the reaction from hamas, let's get over to richard engel, this is something that you have covered very deeply, as you look at the reaction from hamas, what does it mean to lose one of the key operational leaders, the president of iran, to the very proxy wars that iran has engaged in, in the area, the militant groups that they have supported. doesn't get a hiccup for the moment? >> reporter: it probably does not. hamas is correct in one sense, in saying that iran does have institutions that they are not ancient institutions, the theocracy in iran is relatively recent. relatively new. have systems of kings and shaw's

that ran iran for thousands of years. they were overthrown, the entire system was abolished in 1979, when you had the arrival of the iranian revolutionary system, there have only been two supreme leaders. the first one, ayatollah khamenei, khomeini and his successor, ayatollah khamenei. this country is still relatively new, this is a relatively new theocracy, and what iran did in 1979, you remember there were student protests just at the end of the iran and iraq war, there was the american hostage crisis when the u.s. embassy was taken over by radical students. out of that environment, the iranians decided, with protests on the street, and a quick takeover by the theocracy, that the way to go forward in iran was to have a state-controlled

system with clerics in charge, a state of theocracy, that is what is -- that is the official name of the system in iran. you have clerics, the word ayatollah literally means someone who is the shadow of god, who is the interpreter of god's will, for the people of iran. he doesn't manage the day-to- day affairs, he is not in charge of building bridges and collecting trash, but he sets the guidance of the country, all the major decisions, all major appointments, go through the supreme leader. and the supreme leader has held the country under a tight grip, in terms of moral policy, and this is all because it is a theocracy. what kind of clothing women can wear, what kind of relations they are allowed to have with the outside world. how closed off iran is, all these policies are set by the

supreme leader. the current supreme leader is 85 years old, as i said, he is only the second supreme leader in the country, the president, tracy, was the leading successor to taken over. his loss, for iran, is a double blow. it creates a short-term crisis, i think hamas is right about, they will be able to get through this don't expect any change of policy from iran, they will certainly not cut off support for iran or the posting people, iran has ruled through proxies, that is something that they did through proxies in the region, the have hezbollah, they have iran, they have the houthis, that is something that they are likely to do after crazy as they did before him as well. the fundamental shift that i think people will be watching is, is this a moment when the clerics, those who dress in

religious garb and where the turbine, who are the ultimate interpreters at the very top of the system, will this shake their leadership role? will we now see iran transitioning from a pure theocracy run by clerics, with the day-to-day affairs managed by the hard-line revolutionary guard military, or is this an opportunity for the revolutionary guard to assert itself and take over? i've been thinking about this for the last 12 hours or so, and in many ways, we could be at a yelton and putin moment, where yeltsin, he was at the end of his career, he was very sick, he was seen as an alcoholic, someone who could not hold the country together, and he went to an apparatchik, went to someone from the security services, went to someone who is an unknown factor , and we saw a transition away from soviet leadership, away

from the politburo, away from big established names, and moving toward those lesser- known figures. apparatchiks from within the security service, who take over and start to impose a more military dictatorship. perhaps with the same trapping, the same covering of a supreme ayatollah, a supreme leader, but who would ultimately have the power, would it be the supreme leader as it is currently, and his religious circle around them who do look to religious texts for inspiration, or will it be the military in iran, the revolutionary guard, who carry out the day-to-day powers, willing out assume a greater leadership role, with perhaps a fig leaf religious leader. i think that is the potential inflection point that iran is at right now. doesn't continue, as it were, being guided by clerics who commune with god, carry out

through the rev guard, or does the rev guard step up, take power for itself and change the structure of the rule where the clerics are now in the clerics are taking on more of a symbolic role. we will see. i think that is the fundamental power struggle that is now playing out, behind the scenes. in terms of international reaction, i think these statements will be very short. future statements from european leaders or president biden, or others, they are not going to say, we extend our great condolences and our heartfelt thoughts and prayers, to this man, i think they will keep it very short, along the lines of, we are following events very closely in the loss of life is a tragedy or something like that? but, you will hear the proxy groups, supported by iran, like hamas, like the houthis, the different groups in iraq and

syria, with effusive statements, but i think the european leaders are more meeting with their intelligence services quite closely and trying to do a bit of criminology, looking at this dark opaque system and saying okay, what does this mean for succession, what does this mean for iran, and what does this mean for everyone else? >> india's prime minister talking about the reaction, narendra modi posting on social media, deeply saddened and shocked by the tragic denied demise of dr. raisi, head of the islamic republic of iran. his commitment to strengthen indian and iran a bilateral relationship will always be remembered. heartfelt condolences to his family and the people of iran. india stands with iran in this time of sorrow. richard, as you were bringing up the example of history, in

boris yeltsin, there was certainly, if you will, an operator at the time that was taking advantage of that particular context, who is now the leader of russia, vladimir putin. as you mentioned, the possibility of the hard right military, are there certain actors that could take advantage, if you will, of the current instability, and who do have the ears of certain people, who could actually make this happen? who might we watch, if that should be the case? >> quite a few. that reaction from narendra modi, much more effusive and emotional than i expected. i think we will hear president biden going that far, or most european leaders going that far. that is quite interesting. it is a symbol from india that they want to reach out, they want to get engaged in the same

way -- i think probably the most effusive praise will come from vladimir putin, because iran, under raisi has been shoring up the russian military campaign against ukraine. iran has been providing a great number of drones, that russia has been using very effectively in its attacks along the front line. also, sometimes, you can see those attacks on cities in ukraine, including odessa and even kyiv. in terms of other players who might emerge, and where is that power struggle going to be? the other name, well, to names, that were always talked about in private, one being raisi, and now, no longer in consideration because of his helicopter crash, which, my understanding was foul weather, not foul play, but, the other

was the son of the supreme leader, mojtaba kemeny. he is the son of the current supreme leader. he is someone who the supreme leader, at some stage had wanted to replace him, but, there was opposition to that. there were people who -- that is why raisi had effectively emerged as a candidate -- a consensus candidate in these closed circles, because mojtaba -- by the way, very little is known about him. he is not someone who gives interviews. i don't think i've ever even heard his voice. i've seen a few pictures of him. iran operates very much in the shadows when it comes to leadership. they have elections, but the elections are generally not legitimate, and are a bit of electoral democratic theater. but, behind the scenes, the move to replace the supreme

leader, there were always these two names. the supreme leader's current son, mojtaba , and raisi. this helicopter crash eliminates racy. it takes him out of the running, but it doesn't mean that companies khamenei's son is the frontrunner now. one would think that is possible, but again, in the environment in iran where you have deep suspicions, you have powerplay, you have this mysterious crash in the fog in the midst of a war, it would be difficult, now, for the supreme leader, and those around him, to suddenly appoint the supreme leader's son. many people would view that with even more suspicion. they would say obviously this is some sort of assassination hit, it was the supreme leader trying to orchestrate a situation in which he could put his son in power. so, i think that this

unexpected crash makes it more difficult for him to try and put in his son, because it would look bad. it would look conspiratorial at this stage. meaning, going back to what i was saying, we have a potential yelton and putin scenario. you reach back into the crowd of the unknowns. you reach back into the crowd of apparatchiks inside the rev guard, faces that are not public, faces that are not known outside of circles, very much like vladimir putin was at the time. someone who seemed like a steady set of hands, but who can drive the ship and keep it moving without emerging, himself as a cult of personality. it didn't work in russia. that was what boris yeltsin had in mind, that he would put a steady set of hands, the system would keep moving on, and what instead, you saw, was a takeover of the state security

services. i think that is possible, and what we will see in iran as well. a takeover of the security services vis-@-vis the clerical rules, vis-@-vis the actual theocracy that has been in power there from 1979. it could be quite a historic turning point. it could be quite a shift, but we are talking about internal shifts in iran, i don't think for those interacting with iran outside israel, the united states, others, you will necessarily see great changes in policy, but in a profound stone in the river that could change the course of the water, for iranian politics. >> the process now expected with the breaking news of iran's president dying in a helicopter crash according to iranian state tv, it is expected that the vice president of iran would now

step in. who is mohammed mukhbar? we will have that after a short break. break. se secret whole body deodorant for clinically proven odor protection everywhere. so i smell great all day, all hike, and all night. secret whole body deodorant. dupixent can help people with asthma breathe better in as little as 2 weeks. so this is better. even this. dupixent is an add-on treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma that's not for sudden breathing problems. dupixent can cause allergic reactions that can be severe. tell your doctor right away if you have rash, chest pain, worsening shortness of breath, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor about new or worsening joint aches and pain or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines including steroids, without talking to your doctor. ask your specialist about dupixent. i'll be honest. by the end of the day, my floors...yeesh. but who has the time to clean? that's why i love my swiffer wetjet. it's a quick and easy way to get my floors clean.

wetjet absorbs and locks grime deep inside. look at that! swiffer wetjet. i still love to surf, snowboard, and, of course, skate. so, i take qunol magnesium to support my muscle and bone health. qunol's extra strength, high absorption magnesium helps me get the full benefits of magnesium. qunol, the brand i trust.

what is cirkul? cirkul is the fuel you need to take flight. cirkul is the energy that gets you to the next level. cirkul is what you hope for when life tosses lemons your way. cirkul, available at walmart and drinkcirkul.com.

welcome back. as we pass the bottom of the hour, the breaking news this day is the death of iran's president, according to iranian state tv, just announcing that the country's president, ebrahim rees see was killed on sunday, the president was

traveling back from the iranian border with azerbaijan when the helicopter he was traveling in made a crash landing. for hours, rescuers were searching for the wreckage, they have found the crash site and there were no survivors in the end according to state tv. bad weather is believed to have contributed to this crash and certainly slowed down search and rescue efforts. senate majority leader chuck schumer earlier on sunday said intelligence authorities have informed him that there is, quote, no evidence of foul play in this crash. let's go to keir simmons, with us throughout our breaking news coverage. get us back up to date, in terms of what we know as we passed the bottom of the hour on this reeking news today. >> reporter: state media making the announcement that the president ebrahim raisi was killed in this helicopter crash, as you mentioned, it

happened at the border of iran and azerbaijan. they have been there to inaugurate a . the pictures show a mountainous region where you would expect there to be a dam, and heavy fog, as rescuers attempted to get to the crash site. it took them many hours to get there, and that is the primary reason, it appears, for this crash where, so far, it seems, nobody survived. now, he was a conservative leader, he crushed dissent, he was seen as a possible successor to ayatollah khamenei, the leader of iran, the question of who will replace the supreme leader has been looming for some time, now that

christian gets even larger. the question of how it will impact iran's foreign policy will clearly be in the minds of leaders around the world, and in washington but remember that iran has versed its shadow war into the open after the october 7th terror attacks by hamas, as the country supports hamas and supports hamas through its fight with israel, how much support is still an open question. just in the past few months, there have also been confrontation between israel and iran, the likes of which has not been seen in recent history. so, all of these things are context, and then just local domestically, in iran, there is widespread anger over many iranians, that there is corruption, sanctions by the

west, that has really heavily damaged the economy, we have seen an uprising over the death of a young 22-year-old woman, mahsa amini, and the uprising crushed by mr. raisi's government, by his leadership. so, this news, we talk about in history, a black swan event, this is certainly that's. no matter what the cause emergence of emerges of the crash, this news will bring more instability, to a region that is already reeling. >> richard engel also still with us, we have reporting that the u.s. has begun messaging iran. tell us more about what we might know about that, and, as well as you were talking about before our break, the issue of the revolutionary guard and what that means for them, now that they have the news that iran's president has died. >> reporter: i wouldn't say has

begun. this has now been playing out for the last 12 hours or so, when word first came out that there was this helicopter in a mountain forest region near azerbaijan. i have been talking to u.s. government sources, military sources, intelligence sources, a lot of messages have been sent. the u.s. and iran don't communicate directly, the iranians and americans don't have formal diplomatic relations, but they are able to send messages to each other, they are able to de-escalate when necessary, and it will be very important for the united states to send iran a message to say, effectively, we didn't do this. we didn't shoot down that helicopter. de-escalate. we are not intending to take over iran. if you remember, several years ago, after the assassination of a senior leader in iran's military

establishment, qassem soleimani, who was executed under the trump administration, a drone attack in baghdad, the iranians, at the time, are very worried that this was the first move in a takeover, that the americans would be coming, that president trump had ordered a military coup against iran and they went into full war mode. in that crisis, the iranians actually shot down a commercial airline in iran, and killed hundreds of people, many of them, ukrainians. and that shock event had the impact of giving a moment of pause and potentially averting a major war between the united states and iran, because iran was in such a frenzy, after this assassination, that they had not anticipated. so, in an effort to reassure

the iranians, not that the u.s. and iran are suddenly friends, here, but in order for the u.s. to say, we didn't do this. calmed down. there has been quite a bit of messaging, my understanding, not just now, in the last few minutes, but since this began. and in terms of the rev guard, what is your question? >> the revolutionary guard, as you were talking before our break, that this could be an opening for the leaders of the guard. what might that mean? what are you looking for as we go forward? >> reporter: it means we could be seeing iran shifting more toward a military dictatorship run by the revolutionary guard, and less of a pure theocracy backed up by the revolutionary guard. and, the theocracy that is in place in iran has been in place since 1979. before that, you had a series of

kings of kings, who ruled the area that is generally known as the persian empire for millennia. it is one of the oldest civilizations on the planet. that all changed in 1979, with a street revolution, a student revolution, a violent revolution, that was led by ayatollah khomeini. he returned from paris, took to the streets, he was welcomed, it was a violent takeover, at times. the u.s. embassy was besieged, it was a long hostage crisis, relations between iran and the united states have never recovered, since, and after the takeover by the revolutionary guard, in 79, you have had the clerics running the country. they decided, in this move, when they toppled thousands of years of hereditary rule, that the only way forward was islam. the only solution was to have

the clerics at the top, guiding the country, in this system called the rule of jurisprudence, the rule of islamic law, and that they would make all top decisions in the country, in order to prevent it from going down a path of corruption and deprivation again, and that would be backed up by the revolutionary guard, and backed up by other security systems. over the decades, the security services have gotten stronger. the revolutionary guard now operate as -- operate as the main power players in iran, they control the military, the control military production, they control life on the streets in a way that the clerics, who tend to be isolated in the cities, reading and writing their religious

manifestoes and trying to come up with general policy are not connected with the day-to-day workings of the government. we have been seeing this tension playing out behind the scenes for quite a while in iran. the question now is, is this a moment where the supreme leader, 85 years old, was looking to succession, and was looking to raisi to be his replacement, is this now a moment where you see the revolutionary guard move from the active power force on the ground, to one that also controls the levers of power at the very top, and i think that question is something that the united states intelligence services, the european and israeli intelligence services will be watching very closely. it wouldn't make much of a difference for russia. it wouldn't make much of a difference for hezbollah, for iran, their proxies, because

they are already working with the rev guard. if anything, maybe it makes those relationships even stronger, because the revolutionary guard already manages this -- what is called the axis of resistance, this army of proxies who operate outside the borders of iran. that is their portfolio. that is their powerbase, which they have used, also, with military production and other businesses in the country, to make themselves armed, rich, and powerful. >> what might this mean to the relationship, as we look further east, to russia and vladimir putin? what that might mean with the loss of the president of iran, as we were talking earlier, how iran has been supporting russia in its efforts in ukraine? >> reporter: well, it is a good question. i think, you know, the

overriding message here is that we don't know. instability is going to be the primary force that we will see, for a while, here. as richard was laying out there, we don't know what will happen internally, domestically in iran but it has implications as he said, this policy of converting the u.s., not directly, through proxies, to try to have a shadow war with the u.s., this policy of that same approach towards israel, a growing partnership with russia , with china, what has been described by some in washington as an axis of evil, between iran, china, russia, and north korea, how will it impact all of that? as richard points out, if the revolutionary guard

becomes stronger as a result of this, and they have been lurching, more and more, towards the authoritarian, towards the hard-line, then you could imagine that you would see those relationships with those countries growing, and iran, if it is possible to say, becoming even more threatening. that we don't know. we don't know, this is what historians describe as a black swan event, you don't know how that might change things, because you should not underestimate, at the same time, the resistance in iran. you don't always see it, but we did see it, just a couple of years ago, with protests over the killing of that young woman, 20-year-old mahsa amini. you cite then, people rising up. it was brutally crushed under president raisi. but, now how will this impact that? people are -- inflation is huge

in iran, many people are very to satisfied, but there are those countervailing forces, if you like, the clerical rule in iran. the instability that we might see, for longer than just three days, will that have an impact on the way the people on the streets of iran think? we don't know, and that is why, sometimes, when historians talk about these kinds of things, they mention things you cannot predict but which have impact, that is why, we simply -- it is very difficult to predict, and yet, predict is exactly what intelligence officials and leaders in washington will be racing to do right now, as they try to get a grip on what happens next, because it does better.

>> richard, we expect that the vice president of iran it will take on the job of interim president. who is the vice president? >> reporter: well, he is someone that, maybe 3% of iranians even know his name. the foreign minister, died as well in this crash according to iranian state media, he was not a significant figure, something of a figure of ridicule inside iran. so, you don't have a system where you have well- known figures stepping into power. the vice president, again, seen as someone who was just keeping the machine running, and the much bigger decisions take place in secret in iran. this is a country that has a public side, it has meetings in parliament, it has some official protests, every friday they get together, and do chance of death to america,

sometimes quite lackluster events like that, i have attended some. the real decisions are made behind closed doors, and i think that is where you are going to have to watch, now. so, the vice president coming in, this is a caretaker, or is most likely to expect it to be a caretaker, the real question will be who becomes the next president. again, an indication of who becomes next in line for the supreme leader, and these are now overlapping, becoming urgent, because of this crash. >> chief international correspondent keir simmons, international correspondent claudio lovato, thank you, 03, for breaking news coverage. again, breaking news, from iran state tv, iran's president killed in a helicopter crash, this, in the northern region of iran, that will do it for us,

this hour. we continue to follow this breaking news story, coming out of the region, right here on msnbc. again, the death of year-end the death of iranians president, and what that means for the region, a region that has been very unstable in recent times. i'm renton louis in new york but stay with us here on ms nbc. special coverage continues, right after a short break. t br. i love that my daughter still needs me. but sometimes i can't help due to burning and stabbing pain in my hands, so i use nervive. nervive's clinical dose of ala reduces nerve discomfort in as little as seven days. now i can help again feel the difference with nervive.

huh. how long have you been tracking our car's value with carvana? just, like, 7 months. should we sell it? we hold... hold... silver vans are going for more right now, should we... hold... our low mileage is paying off. you think we should... hold... depreciation is really heating up you think... hoooold!!! hooold! hooold. hold! we just dipped 2.5%! hooooooold!!! now!!!! i'm on it. i'm, on it. already sold to carvana. go to carvana and track your car's value today. ♪ on your period, sudden gushes happen. say goodbye gush fears! thanks to always ultra thins... with rapiddry technology... that absorbs two times faster. hellooo clean and comfortable. always. fear no gush. my dry eye's made me a burning, stinging, 5-times-a-day,... ...makeup smearing drops user. i want another option that's not another drop. tyrvaya. it's not another drop. it's the first and only

nasal spray for dry eye. tyrvaya treats the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease fast by helping your body produce its own real tears. common side effects include sneezing, cough, and throat and nose irritation. relying only on drops? not me. my own real tears are my relief. ask your eye doctor about tyrvaya. did you know some dish soaps don't remove all the grease, even with scrubbing? whaaat? i just cleaned those! try dawn platinum. it removes 99% of grease and food residue. that's why dawn is trusted to save wildlife affected by oil. dawn platinum cleans to the squeak.

a vd good morning to you. i'm richard lui. we have breaking news out of the middle east. they're reporting that iran's president was killed in a helicopter crash sunday. the president was traveling back from the visit to the