The president of Iran may have died in a helicopter crash. Ibrahim Raisi is from the "hardline" faction of Iranian politics. He's staunch religious conservative - he was behind the hijab mandates that created a massive protest backlash - and an implacable enemy of "the West". Iran seems to ping pong between hardliners like Raisi and Ahmadinejad and more moderate figures like Khatami and Rouhani.
The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, is 85 years old and in perpetually poor health. He is probably the last significant Iranian leader with actual ties to the Revolution of 1978-9. The only hope the Middle East has of really lasting peace is that when he does die, he is not replaced by someone like Raisi. If Raisi is, in fact, dead, that opens up a potential improvement in the long term prospects of bringing Iran back into a more positive relationship with the rest of the world. Make no mistake, revolutionary governance in Iran has been immensely negative for the average Iranian.
The helicopter went down in mountainous terrain during bad weather. This will not stop Iran from blaming Israel and/or the United States (though I would highly doubt we had anything to do with it). A distracted Iran is good for the world, though. Post ergo propter hoc.
UPDATE: It's dark there now and cold. I'd say the odds of him being alive are rapidly declining.
UPDATE 2: Tweet of the day:
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