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Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.

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Speaker 1: It's Tuesday, May twenty one. A convicted sex offender will

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Speaker 1: walk three years before his prison sentence was due to end,

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Speaker 1: and it's all because of an error by act authorities.

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Speaker 1: Victims of Stephen Leonard Mitchell say the Office of the

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Speaker 1: Director of Public Prosecutions was warned about the child's sex

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Speaker 1: offender's bungled plea deal, but they were too preoccupied by

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Speaker 1: the rape trial of former Liberal staffer Bruce Lahman to

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Speaker 1: fix it. You can read that story exclusively at The

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Speaker 1: Australian dot com dot U Labor wants to slash the

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Speaker 1: superannuation of federal judges, but barristers and legal experts say

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Speaker 1: the new legislation could compromise the judiciary's independence and push

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Speaker 1: judges to state courts in search of better pay. Iran's

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Speaker 1: hardline Islamic regime has suffered a major blow after President

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Speaker 1: Ebrahim Raci was killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday night.

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Speaker 1: That's the assessment of The Australian's chief international correspondent, Cameron Stewart.

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Speaker 1: In today's episode, Cam unpacks what Race's death means for

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Speaker 1: the region, and why conspiracy theories are blossoming. One of

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Speaker 1: the oldest civilizations on Earth, a society glittering with knowledge

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Speaker 1: and sophistication, a brutally repressive regime with ambitions to change

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Speaker 1: the world.

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Speaker 2: Here for seven minutes, saying comnuncations again, do what you

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Speaker 2: have to do.

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Speaker 1: Iran is one of the most mysterious and intriguing places

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Speaker 1: on Earth, ruled by men who've vowed to destroy Western civilization.

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Speaker 1: No wonder it's inspired a legion of espionage thrillers, like

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Speaker 1: the Apple TV series Tehran, which follows a wildly beautiful

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Speaker 1: young agent of the Israeli spy agency Mossad as she

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Speaker 1: infiltrates Iran in the attempt to destroy its nuclear program.

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Speaker 1: Mosart sent me to Tehran on a mission, but then

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Speaker 1: everything went wrong. We have to go. That's why when

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Speaker 1: on Sunday night a helicopter carrying Iran's president and foreign

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Speaker 1: minister went down, thoughts immediately ran to conspiracy. Was this

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Speaker 1: an assassination? This opone? We need to stop him called.

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Speaker 1: In Iran's spectacularly beautiful northwest, the rugged mountains give way

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Speaker 1: to expansive plains when the weather turns those peaks are

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Speaker 1: covered in thick, heavy fog, and it was into this

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Speaker 1: fog that the chopper carrying President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign

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Speaker 1: Minister Hassin Emir Abdola Jam vanished.

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Speaker 3: We know that President Ibrahim Raisi was returning to Iran

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Speaker 3: from a trip to Azerbaijan, where he was inspecting infrastructure

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Speaker 3: projects when his helicopter crashed in what we've been told

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Speaker 3: is quite mountainous terrain in a remote part of Iran.

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Speaker 1: A large scale rescue operations sprang into action, with dogs

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Speaker 1: and drones to search the areas too dark, too dangerous,

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Speaker 1: or too difficult for humans to traverse. On Monday, the

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Speaker 1: chief of Iran's Red Crescent humanitarian organization said the chopper,

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Speaker 1: which had evaded detection for hours, had been found, but

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Speaker 1: the situation was not good. I'm joined by the Australian's

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Speaker 1: chief international correspondent, Cameron Stewart. We're speaking on Monday afternoon,

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Speaker 1: and this situation is very fluid. Kem, who is Ebrahim Raisi?

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Speaker 1: What does the president do in Iran?

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Speaker 2: Claire? The President in Iran is the second most powerful

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Speaker 2: person in that country. He is subordinate only to the

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Speaker 2: so called Supreme leader that is Iatola Kamani and ioler.

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Speaker 2: Kamani sets the parameters of what happens in Iran, the

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Speaker 2: military policy, political policy, social policy, theocratic policy, etc.

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Speaker 1: Etc.

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Speaker 2: And he is appointed by clerics. He's not a popularly

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Speaker 2: appointed leader, and so it's an authoritarian country. The president

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Speaker 2: is elected by the public, but they're considered widely to

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Speaker 2: be sham elections. So therefore the Ayatola, who is a

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Speaker 2: very conservative religious hardliner, only chooses as his president a

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Speaker 2: conservative religious hardliners, which is precisely what President Raci was.

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Speaker 1: As we began speaking, Iranian rescuers announced that they'd found

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Speaker 1: the wreckage of the helicopter, but no sign so far

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Speaker 1: of any survivors. What's the context of this in terms

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Speaker 1: of Iran's capability? Would they have top of the range

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Speaker 1: helicopters that could fly safely in folly conditions like the

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Speaker 1: ones that are being reported out of Iran.

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Speaker 2: Iran has very old equipment in lots of areas, and

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Speaker 2: surprisingly this helicopter was actually quite old. It's a very

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Speaker 2: old helicopter. It's one you'd be quite surprised, Frankur that

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Speaker 2: they put in the president and the foreign minister and

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Speaker 2: very important officials into it remains to be seen, of course,

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Speaker 2: the exact cause of the crash. We've seen the vision

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Speaker 2: and footage, and certainly the weather is very bad. There's

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Speaker 2: lots of fog and it seems to initially be being

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Speaker 2: blamed on bad weather. But of course with this sort

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Speaker 2: of thing, especially with Iran's circumstance at the moment in

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Speaker 2: the Middle East and the war that we've got with

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Speaker 2: Hamas Israel, Claire, there will be a lot of conspiracy

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Speaker 2: thews which you're always already bouncing around the internet.

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Speaker 1: Let's dive right into those conspiracy theories then, Camp, Why

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Speaker 1: would Israel be involved in this in any way?

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Speaker 2: Look Iran and Israel that the long term enmity between

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Speaker 2: the two countries has really peaked, Claire since the Hamas

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Speaker 2: Israel conflicts, which began, of course on October seven, and

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Speaker 2: it is becoming more and more tense. Iran has authorized

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Speaker 2: its proxies like Espala in Lebanon and also its proxies

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Speaker 2: in Syria and Iraq to launch short term attacks on

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Speaker 2: Israel through missiles, et cetera. But last month it really

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Speaker 2: became extremely heated when Iran launched its first ever direct

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Speaker 2: attack on Israel hundreds of drones and missiles it fired

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Speaker 2: towards Israel in retaliation for an Israeli attack on its

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Speaker 2: forces based in Syria. Now, while that attack was very unsuccessful,

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Speaker 2: they were all but a handful were actually shot down

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Speaker 2: by the Israelis before they got to Israel. That was

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Speaker 2: a real turning point in Iran is Iran's history to

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Speaker 2: actually make a direct attack on Israel, and I think

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Speaker 2: that really underlines how under President Raisi and this Islamic regime,

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Speaker 2: Iran has hardened its position on Israel.

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Speaker 1: Cam One of the other conspiracy theories is that this

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Speaker 1: is about the power plays within Iran itself. As you

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Speaker 1: told us, the supreme leader of Iran is a religious figure,

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Speaker 1: the Iola Ali Kamena. What are the prospects that with

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Speaker 1: the apparent death of President Raysi that things changed significantly

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Speaker 1: in Iran?

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Speaker 2: There will certainly be a lot of people outside Iran,

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Speaker 2: Claire who will hope that this will lead to some

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Speaker 2: form of change. It will certainly lead to a power

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Speaker 2: struggle within the ruling elite over who actually replaces him.

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Speaker 2: As presidents under Iranian law, there'll be elections within about

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Speaker 2: fifty days for a new president, but these elections are

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Speaker 2: widely considered to be rigged, so it's most likely the

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Speaker 2: Supreme Leader will choose to a degree who that candidate

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Speaker 2: might be. But even so, there will be some tensions

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Speaker 2: within this elite between more liberal forces and the hardliners

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Speaker 2: as well, and that will be fascinating to see how

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Speaker 2: that plays out. Whether we actually see any visibility of

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Speaker 2: those tensions, it's not at all certain that we would,

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Speaker 2: because things are very much a closed chop in Iran

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Speaker 2: at that high level. But certainly opponents of Iran's Islamic

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Speaker 2: clerical system will be hoping that this will lead to

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Speaker 2: some sort of greater liberalization among the ruling elite. But

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Speaker 2: I think that is probably a fairly optimistic assumption.

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Speaker 1: Coming up what raises death means for Iran's many proxy militias.

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Speaker 1: Subscribers to The Australian are the first to hear breaking

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Speaker 1: news updates like Biswan. A subscription also includes newsletters tailored

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Speaker 1: to your interests and invitations to special live events where

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Speaker 1: you can hear experts like camp do their thing in person.

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Speaker 1: Check us out at the Australian dot com dot ay

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Speaker 1: and we'll be back after this break. According to State

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Speaker 1: TV Iran's Supreme leader, Ayatola Ali Khamane, commented publicly on

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Speaker 1: the helicopter crash that killed President racy late on Sunday.

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Speaker 1: He said, the nation of Iran should not be worried

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Speaker 1: and anxious. No disruption will occur in the country's affairs.

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Speaker 1: Thousands of people, mostly men, took to the streets of

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Speaker 1: the Iranian capital Tehran on Sunday night to pray for

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Speaker 1: Racey and his fellow travelers. You Under President Raci, Iran

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Speaker 1: has hardened its treatment of Iranians too, particularly women. There

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Speaker 1: have been reports of a serious crackdown on rules like

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Speaker 1: women wearing hit jobs in public. There have been women

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Speaker 1: who have disappeared from the streets of Iran after being

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Speaker 1: photographed not wearing head coverings. In those terms, Cam who

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Speaker 1: is Ebrahim Rayci? Is he a hardline conservative?

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Speaker 2: He's a very hardline conservative, So RIALSI. He was the

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Speaker 2: guy who was basically authorizing that crackdown, and more than

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Speaker 2: five hundred people died in that terrible street violence that

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Speaker 2: we saw and pression that occurred towards those protesters. So

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Speaker 2: I think his death will certainly not be mourned by

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Speaker 2: a lot of younger Iranians. There's an inherent tension in

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Speaker 2: Iran today between younger Iranians who love Western clothes, want

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Speaker 2: a more western lifestyle, want greater freedoms, and the old

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Speaker 2: Islamic mullers, the ruling elites. Basically, and Rasi represented absolutely

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Speaker 2: the old style Islamic hardliner, so there will be no

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Speaker 2: mourning of him from many younger Iranians.

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Speaker 1: Instability in Iran is obviously a big story for the

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Speaker 1: whole region and for the world, because Iran controls or

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Speaker 1: has influence over militias in a whole lot of countries,

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Speaker 1: from Yemen to Lebanon, to Syria to Iraq. Can we

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Speaker 1: talk about some of those, for example, in Yemen, that's

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Speaker 1: where the Huti rebels are based, who have been attacking

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Speaker 1: shipping in the Red Sea. What do you think his

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Speaker 1: death will mean for those Iranian proxy forces throughout the

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Speaker 1: Middle East?

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Speaker 2: Well, this is probably the most important single question I

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Speaker 2: think to arise from his death because since the October

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Speaker 2: seven Israeli Hamas conflict, Iran has played a very curious

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Speaker 2: role in the sense that it's encouraged its terror proxies

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Speaker 2: in the region like hes Bollah, and also its proxies

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Speaker 2: in Iraq and Syria to attack Israel, and in fact

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Speaker 2: US forces in the region too, but also, as far

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Speaker 2: as has Bler's concerned, to attack Israel in such a

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Speaker 2: manner as to really distract Israel, but not actually in

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Speaker 2: such large degree as to create a larger conflict. So,

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Speaker 2: in fact, Iran had quite a finely balanced policy of

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Speaker 2: provoking Israel since October seven with its proxies in the

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Speaker 2: region without triggering an actual war. Now that is a

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Speaker 2: deliberate and finally balanced policy coming out of Terehran, coming

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Speaker 2: out of the Islamic regime there. Now, whether President Raysi's

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Speaker 2: death will change that balance is a critical question for

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Speaker 2: the region.

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Speaker 1: Is there a possibility that this makes everything worse in

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Speaker 1: the Middle East, that it escalates tensions.

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Speaker 2: Look, if it were able to be proved or shown

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Speaker 2: that in fact the crash was a sabotage, I think

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Speaker 2: that would be a very dangerous situation for the region

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Speaker 2: if the Islamic regime chose to blame Israel or the

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Speaker 2: US or a Western country, because that would really ratchet

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Speaker 2: up the tensions enormously at a time when tensions are

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Speaker 2: already massive over the Israeli Hamas conflict over the constant

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Speaker 2: bombing of northern Israel by Hezbollah and the instability on

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Speaker 2: the West Bank and with the Huthis in Yemen. I mean,

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Speaker 2: the whole Middle East isn't a tinderbox really, and I

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Speaker 2: just think that if there was a confirmation that this

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Speaker 2: was an act of sabotage, that would be a very

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Speaker 2: dangerous position for the region.

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Speaker 1: Cameron Stewart is The Australian's chief international correspondent. To read

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Speaker 1: the latest updates, all mist developing story and for all

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Speaker 1: the nation's best journalism, is it the Australian dot com

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Speaker 1: dot a you