Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is dead, says Iranian official

Millions of Australian children could be barred from using social media platforms under age-limit changes floated by state premiers who want bolstered protections for young people against online harm.

The leaders of NSW, Queensland and Victoria united on Monday in a push to lift age minimums on major operators such as the Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram, and TikTok.

All the platforms require users to be at least 13 years old, but that limit could be lifted to as high as 16 under a proposal from NSW.

South Australia is investigating if it can impose social-media bans for children aged under 14 and parental permission for those aged under 16 amid rising concern over harms of social media content on minors.

Those changes would be a national first and follow legislated restrictions on children using social media accounts in other countries such as Spain, as well as some US states.

Iran’s first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, 68, became interim president on the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.

As interim president, Mokhber is part of a three-person council, along with the speaker of parliament and the head of the judiciary, that will organise a new presidential election within 50 days of the president’s death.

Born on September 1, 1955, Mokhber, like Raisi, is seen as close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has the last say in all matters of state. Mokhber became first vice president in 2021 when Raisi was elected president.

Mokhber was part of a team of Iranian officials who visited Moscow in October and agreed to supply surface-to-surface missiles and more drones to Russia’s military, sources told Reuters at the time. The team also included two senior officials from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and an official from the Supreme National Security Council.

Mokhber had previously been head of Setad, an investment fund linked to the supreme leader.

In 2010, the European Union included Mokhber on a list of individuals and entities it was sanctioning for alleged involvement in “nuclear or ballistic missile activities”. Two years later, it removed him from the list.

In 2013, the US Treasury Department added Setad and 37 companies it oversaw to a list of sanctioned entities.

Setad, whose full name is Setad Ejraiye Farmane Hazrate Emam, or the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam, was set up under an order issued by the founder of the Islamic Republic, Khamenei’s predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. It ordered aides to sell and manage properties supposedly abandoned in the chaotic years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and channel the bulk of the proceeds to charity.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister died when their helicopter crashed as it was crossing mountain terrain in heavy fog, an Iranian official told Reuters on Monday.

Earlier, the news agency quoted an Iranian official as saying all passengers were feared dead as the president’s helicopter “was completely burned in the crash”.

Rescue teams fought blizzards and difficult terrain through the night to reach the wreckage in East Azerbaijan province in the early hours of Monday.

Raisi, 63, was elected president in 2021, and since taking office had ordered a tightening of morality laws, overseen a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests and pushed hard in nuclear talks with world powers.

Following his reported death, Iran’s first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, 68, has taken over as interim president.

As interim president, Mokhber is part of a three-person council, along with the speaker of parliament and the head of the judiciary, that will organise a new presidential election within 50 days of the president’s death.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who holds ultimate power with a final say on foreign policy and Iran’s nuclear programme, had earlier sought to reassure Iranians, saying there would be no disruption to state affairs.

Hopes are fading that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister have survived a helicopter crash in mountainous terrain and icy weather, an Iranian official said on Monday after search teams located the wreckage.

“President Raisi’s helicopter was completely burned in the crash ... unfortunately, all passengers are feared dead,” the official told Reuters.

Rescue teams fought blizzards and difficult terrain through the night to reach the wreckage in East Azerbaijan province in the early hours of Monday.

“We can see the wreckage and the situation does not look good,” the head of Iran’s Red Crescent, Pir Hossein Kolivand, told state TV.

“With the discovery of the crash site, no signs of life have been detected among the helicopter’s passengers.”

Raisi, 63, was elected president in 2021, and since taking office has ordered a tightening of morality laws, overseen a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests and pushed hard in nuclear talks with world powers.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who holds ultimate power with a final say on foreign policy and Iran’s nuclear programme, had earlier sought to reassure Iranians, saying there would be no disruption to state affairs.

Pro-Palestine students occupying a Melbourne university building have been ordered to remove their belongings and move on, as protesters at other campuses defy orders to disband their encampments.

Monday marks the sixth day students have occupied the Arts West building at the University of Melbourne in Parkville.

More than 15,000 students across 474 classes have been affected and alternative arrangements were being made on Monday and Tuesday, the university said.

The building was closed on Friday following a safety inspection that found damage and obstructions to emergency exits, fire panel access and firefighting equipment.

Vice chancellor Duncan Maskell on Monday issued a notice to protesters saying the demonstration had become “increasingly disruptive and unsafe”.

“Camping is not allowed on university premises. Occupation of buildings is not permitted,” he said.

“The university directs all persons occupying the Arts West building to leave the university’s grounds and to remove all personal property from the building.”

Students and staff contravening the order have been threatened with academic sanctions including expulsion, and may be referred to police for trespassing.

Victoria Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Mark Galliot said the university has not asked police to intervene.

“If we are asked to do anything, [we want to make sure] any response is proportionate … and if we do go in, there’ll be negotiations with those protesters before any action takes place,” he told ABC radio on Monday.

Deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley has called for Australian broadcasters to stop playing songs by Sean “Diddy” Combs, after he acknowledged beating his girlfriend in a US hotel in 2016.

CCTV footage of the incident involving singer Cassie Ventura, which the rapper had previously denied, was broadcast on American TV on the weekend. Diddy issued a public apology.

Ley issued a statement on Monday saying Ventura “is a real person who has suffered severe domestic violence”.

“While this matter is occurring in the United States the vision that is circulating on media and online will deeply affect many thousands of Australian women who will be reliving their own traumatic experiences once again today,” she said.

“This is a reminder that domestic violence is a global scourge, and my thoughts are with all victim-survivors who will be hurting.

“Mr Combs has admitted to the attack for which reports suggest he will not face charges due to local laws including the statute of limitations.

“But Australians have an opportunity to take action on this issue. We can call out this unacceptable violence.”

Ley asked Australians businesses to reconsider any activities they may be undertaking that may be financially beneficial to Combs.

“This should see Australian media companies including radio stations take any of his music off their channels today.

“Everyone has a role to play in calling out domestic violence. Australia should send a clear message on this matter.”

Search and rescue teams have arrived at the site where a Turkish drone detected a heart source that was suspected to be coming from the wreckage of the crashed helicopter that was carrying the Iranian president, according to reports in Iranian media.

Pir Hossein Kolivand, the head of Iran’s Red Crescent Society, was reported by semi-official news agency ISNA as saying that rescuers were approaching the scene of the accident.

State media did not provide the exact location of the site.

Hours earlier, the state-run Turkish news agency Andalou reported that a Turkish drone had discovered a “source of heat suspected to be wreckage of [the] helicopter carrying Iranian President [Ebrahim] Raisi”.

Andalou reported that Turkey had shared the co-ordinates of the wreckage with Iranian authorities.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he is monitoring reports about a helicopter that crashed with Iran’s president on board.

The helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the country’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian crashed as it was crossing mountainous terrain in heavy fog.

A rescue operation is underway but has been hampered by poor weather.

Mr Albanese said he had been keeping track of news of the helicopter crash.

“We’ve seen the reports, there’s little more that I can add to those reports at this time,” he told ABC Radio on Monday.

“The reports indicated that a helicopter carrying the Iranian president and the foreign minister has not arrived at its destination.”

Research fellow at Macquarie University Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who spent more than 800 days in an Iranian jail on false espionage charges, said there would be some levels of continuity but also uncertainty for leadership.

“It’s going to destabilise and shake up Iranian politics, irrespective of the fact that the guy on top, Ali Khamenei, remains in power,” Moore-Gilbert told Sky News.

“It would have quite a destabilising effect in that you would see a power struggle emerge among various hardliners as to who will succeed Ebrahim Raisi, but it’s also throwing the succession to Ali Khamenei into question.”

Albanese indicated Australia had been working with allied countries on efforts to de-escalate tensions in Iran in an effort to prevent conflict in the Middle East from spreading.

Iran and Israel have traded missiles in recent months as Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have been launching strikes on targets in the nearby Red Sea.

“We’re very much focused on de-escalation, we want to continue to work as we have been, with the international community to increase pressure on Iran to cease its destabilising actions,” Albanese said.

“We have been very much focused on wanting to … see de-escalation in region.”

NSW can afford to pay billions to public-sector workers in above-inflation pay rises because less money is going towards paying off debts, according to the state’s treasurer.

More than 400,000 of the state’s public sector employees are being offered a 10.5 per cent pay rise over three years, including a mandatory increase in their superannuation payments.

The move will give certainty to frontline workers, the government says, although bargaining has only begun on the deal.

Unions and agencies will have to consider the policy to cover workers under more than 70 awards.

The deal would cost about $3.6 billion but was accounted for in the last budget’s essential services fund, Treasurer Daniel Mookhey told reporters on Monday.

“We can afford to make this investment because we are paying our creditors less and as a result we can pay our essential workers more,” he said.

But Unions NSW, the peak body for the state’s worker organisations, immediately criticised the offer, which it described as being worth 9.5 per cent without the mandatory super increase.

“The NSW government’s proposed minimum increases for public sector workers will not assist in retaining existing staff, nor enable us to attract the workers we desperately need to fill ongoing essential service vacancies,” secretary Mark Morey said.