Lavrov and former Iranian minister disinform about Raisi’s death, accuse US

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and former Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif have disinformed that US sanctions against Iran influenced the shooting down of the helicopter that killed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

What did they say?

“One of the causes of this heartbreaking incident is the United States, which caused the martyrdom of the president and his companions by sanctioning the sale of the aviation industry in Iran.” “The US crime is recorded in the minds of the Iranian people and in history,” Zarif said.

“The Americans deny this, but the truth is that other countries against which the US has announced sanctions do not receive spare parts for American equipment, including aviation,” Lavrov said.

Analysis:

US officials quickly dismissed the allegations as “baseless”. In fact, Iran had asked the US for help after the accident.

At a press conference on Monday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that the US had been asked by the Iranian government for help, but could not provide it for logistical reasons.

“We said we would be willing to help. That’s something we would do to any government in this situation. “Ultimately, we were unable to provide that assistance primarily for logistical reasons,” he said.

There are also many reasons why the old American Bell 212 helicopter from the Vietnam War era could have crashed. These include poor maintenance or human error in dense fog. Initial indications suggested that it was an accident due to foggy weather. In addition, there are many reasons for Iran’s negligence and weakness in handling such a situation. Before Raisi left, there was a lot of fog and rain. So the first question is why fly over the mountains when a detour around the area or to another destination would have been safer, and it is also questionable why both the president and the foreign minister are on the same helicopter.

The US and its allies have imposed sanctions on Iran to curtail its destabilizing military programs./G. Venhari – The Geopost/