The helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, returning from a dam inauguration ceremony in Azerbaijan, crashed near the border. It was reported that Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, East Azerbaijan Governor Malik Rahmati and Imam Ayatollah Ali Hashim of Tabriz province were also on board.
The crash occurred in a mountainous region with poor weather conditions. Consequently, it took 15 hours for search and rescue teams, including those from neighboring countries like Türkiye, to reach the wreckage. It was announced that there were no survivors from the helicopter. The identification of the burned bodies was completed with difficulty.
Iran is at war on many fronts. In the past few years, dozens of Iranian officials, including high-ranking figures like Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander Qasem Soleimani, have been killed by the United States and Israel. Therefore, it is only natural for non-accidental possibilities to come to mind.
However, for now, no one is directly linking the Iranian president's death to the "usual suspects." Tehran, which we are accustomed to blaming every incident on U.S. sabotage, is surprisingly calm this time. The official statements emphasize an accident. At most, there are those, like former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the Kremlin, who blame the U.S. embargo on the country for the crash. They argue that American sanctions, which include the procurement of spare parts for aircraft, have worsened aviation safety in Iran.
However, the absence of Western involvement does not necessarily mean that the incident was an accident. There are several points that go against the ordinary course of things and the current explanations given seem more like excuses.
For instance, how is it possible that in a challenging region where mountain peaks reach almost 3,000 meters, and in rainy and foggy weather, high-ranking state officials such as the president, the foreign minister, and Ayatollah Ali Hashim, the imam of Tabriz, who is the second most important figure of the country after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, are placed in a rundown 1978 model helicopter that reportedly had spare parts issues?
Even though the clerics mourning at the funeral of Raisi and his companions lamented "shortages and embargoes," Deputy Defense Minister Seyyed Mahdi Farahi was boasting just last year at the handover ceremony of the latest model helicopters purchased from Russia, claiming they had the best fleet in the region. Officials were also announcing that Russian companies were ready to co-produce helicopters with Iran and that Iran had become a regional center for the maintenance of eastern helicopters.
Another factor fueling suspicions is undoubtedly the functioning of the regime in Iran. It operates as a completely closed system where the "early bird catches the worm." In other words, those who act swiftly can eliminate their political enemies.
Raisi's career also stemmed from his success within this shadowy environment. Following the 1979 revolution, he began his career in 1981 as the prosecutor of Karaj. Rising swiftly in his role, Raisi became the deputy prosecutor general of Tehran at the young age of 25. In 1988, following the instructions of Iran's revolutionary leader Khomeini, Raisi was part of a four-member committee that issued execution orders for 1,600 regime opponents.
As for Khamenei, who sits at the top of Iran’s leadership, he not only avoids helicopters but, aside from a trip to Libya during his presidency, has never traveled abroad and has rarely left his seat. It is quite normal for him to fear accidents. After all, who knows how many accidents he has witnessed during his long tenure in power?
