Iran

[blindpig]

Iranian president confirmed dead following helicopter crash

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and several other officials were killed in the crash alongside the president

News Desk

MAY 20, 2024


(Photo credit: Iranian Presidency)

Iran announced early on 20 May that President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and those accompanying them were killed in the helicopter crash northeast of the country.

“Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, East Azerbaijan Province’s Governor Malek Rahmati, and Mehdi Mousavi, the head of Raisi’s guard team were on board the crashed aircraft as well. Mohammad Ali Al-e-Hashem, the Supreme Leader’s representative in the province also accompanied them,” IRNA news agency reported.

“Local officials present at the crash site have confirmed the martyrdom of Raisi and his accompanying team.”

The Iranian cabinet released an official statement saying: “The popular president of Iran, Ayatollah Raisi, has been martyred on the birth anniversary of Imam Reza (AS), the eighth Shia Imam. The indefatigable and hard-working president made the ultimate sacrifice on the path of serving his nation.”

After hours-long search operations through Sunday evening and early Monday, the Iranian Red Cresent Society (IRCS) finally came upon the wreckage of the helicopter crash, saying in a preliminary statement that “no sign of life” was found at the site.

The announcement came 16 hours after contact was lost with the helicopter. At least 73 rapid response and rescue teams were deployed for search operations. Azerbaijan, Russia, and Turkiye participated in the search efforts.

Rescue teams had great difficulty locating the site of the crash due to severe weather conditions and harsh terrain.

The crash took place earlier on Sunday as Raisi and his team were returning from an inauguration ceremony for a water dam project with Azerbaijan’s President, Ilham Aliyev, on Saturday.

“The president was also planning to visit a couple of provinces in the north; he does travel a lot in the country. We have 30 provinces, and every year, he’s promised to travel to each province at least once, so he’s constantly on the move,” Iranian political analyst and university professor Mohammad Marandi told Al Jazeera on 19 May.

According to the Iranian constitution, the president's responsibilities must be handed over to the First Vice President with the approval of Iran’s Supreme Leader. After 50 days, the country will go to elections and elect a new president.

Since his election in August 2021, Raisi successfully pursued the policy of looking eastward. Being the first Iranian president to officially visit China in 20 years, Raisi is credited with deeply enhancing Tehran’s relationship with Beijing.

Raisi also greatly developed his country’s ties to Moscow and several Latin American countries, including Nicaragua, Cuba, and Venezuela.

“I see Iran’s relations with Latin America not only from the perspective of bilateral relations, but also as a continuation of the Russia–China bloc in which Iran is involved through its policy of looking East … We have common interests, common visions and common enemies,” the president said last year during a meeting with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Raisi’s term also saw the historic reconciliation of ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia and the continuation of Iranian support for the Palestinian cause.

“With Raisi's unfortunate death, Iran, the Axis of Resistance, and the world have lost a visionary, goal-oriented leader, a staunch supporter of the rightful Palestinian cause, and one of the main pillars of the battle against Western arrogance and hegemony,” Ahmad Karakira wrote for Al Mayadeen on 20 May.

https://thecradle.co/articles/iranian-p ... pter-crash

World mourns ‘tragic loss’ of Iranian president Raisi

Regional and international leaders, as well as representatives of the Axis of Resistance, have all expressed sorrow over the passing of the president and his team

News Desk

MAY 20, 2024


(Photo credit: Iran's Presidency/WANA, Via Reuters)

Leaders and officials from several countries began to offer their condolences to Iran on 20 May following the announcement of the deaths of President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and other officials in a helicopter crash northwest of the country.

“In Russia, the President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran Hossein Amir-Abdollahian were known as true, reliable friends of our country,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday morning.

“Their role in strengthening mutually beneficial Russian-Iranian cooperation and trusting partnership is invaluable,” Lavrov added, extending “condolences to the families and friends of the victims, as well as to the entire friendly people of Iran.”

“Our thoughts and hearts are with you in this sad hour.” Moscow was involved in the hours-long search efforts to locate the presidential helicopter the night before.

Chinese President Xi Jinping also expressed his condolences, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Xi called the accident “a great loss for the Iranian people.”

The EU also expressed “sincere condolences” to Iran.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “deeply saddened and shocked by the tragic demise” of Raisi, Amir-Abdollahian, and their accompanying delegation, who were returning from an official trip to Azerbaijan. “My heartfelt condolences to his family and the people of Iran. India stands with Iran in this time of sorrow.”

Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, sent condolences “on this terrible loss” and said, “The great Iranian nation will overcome this tragedy with customary courage.”

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, who met with the Iranian delegation during an inauguration ceremony for a water dam project just one day earlier, said he was “deeply shocked by the news of the tragic loss suffered by our friendly and brotherly Islamic Republic of Iran and its people” in a statement addressing Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II, UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed (MbZ), and Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani all sent heartfelt condolences to the Islamic Republic.

The Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) expressed the “deepest condolences” and “reaffirmed the solidarity of the GCC with the government and people of Iran.”

“I remember my brother, President Raisi, with all respect and gratitude,” said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country also took part in efforts to locate the helicopter on 19 May.

Other Arab leaders and representatives of the Axis of Resistance expressed deep condolences to the people and leadership of Iran.

“We extend our heartfelt condolences and sympathies to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, and the leadership and people of the Islamic Republic. We affirm that Iraq stands by the Iranian people during this difficult time,” said Iraqi President Abdul Latif al-Rashid.

Lebanon has announced three days of national mourning for the deaths of Raisi, Amir-Abdollahian, and the rest of their team.

In a statement, Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah gave “its deepest condolences and feelings of sympathy” to Iran's Supreme Leader, leadership, and people.

“We have known His Eminence, the martyred president, closely for a long time. He was a big brother to us, a strong supporter, and a staunch defender of our issues and the nation’s issues, most notably Jerusalem and Palestine, and a protector of the resistance movements and their fighters in all the positions of responsibility he assumed,” Hezbollah said.

Hezbollah also expressed sorrow over the loss of the “active and sacrificing minister,” Amir-Abdollahian, and the rest of Raisi’s team who were killed in the crash.

“We express our shared feelings of grief and pain with the brotherly Iranian people, and our complete solidarity with the Islamic Republic of Iran, in this painful and grave accident,” said Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

Mohammad Ali al-Houthi of the Yemeni Ansarallah resistance movement expressed “deepest condolences to the Iranian people, the Iranian leadership, and the families [of the victims].”

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad expressed condolences to the Iranian Supreme Leader, government, and people, calling the president “a martyr for the sake of duty” and affirming solidarity with the families of all the victims of the crash.

https://thecradle.co/articles/world-mou ... dent-raisi

*******

Iran confirms death of President Raisi
May 20, 8:00



Iran has officially confirmed the death of Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi.
Among the dead, in addition to Raisi, are Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Governor of East Azerbaijan Province Malek Rahmati, Friday Imam of the city of Tabriz Mohammad Ali Ale Hashem, and Chief of the Presidential Guard General of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Mehdi Mousavi.
The crew included two pilots and one technical worker, their names have not been disclosed.

Iran is facing new presidential elections.
At the same time, an investigation into the causes of the helicopter crash will continue.

Regarding the stability of Iran's political system, it is worth remembering that Iran is actually ruled by Ayatollah Khamenei. The President of Iran plays an important, but still subordinate role. It is the ayatollahs who determine the military-political course of the country. The death of Raisi will most likely affect the internal political balance between conservatives and reformers within the Iranian establishment, while it can hardly be expected that Iran will abandon its current foreign policy course. The trend of recent years is the strengthening of the role of conservatives and the IRGC in the implementation of the general course.

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/9158805.html

[blindpig]

President And FM Of Iran Killed in Apparent Helicopter Accident

You all will have heard by now that the President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi as well as its Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian have died in what looks like a helicopter accident:

Raisi was traveling in a US-made Bell 212. Low visibility and the impassibility of the area made search operations difficult, IRNA wrote.
Rescue teams finally managed to locate the crash site on Monday morning with the help of Turkish surveillance drones.

The wreckage was discovered in a wooded area on a mountain slope. The aircraft was severely damaged and charred, and there were no signs of survivors, the Iranian Red Crescent Society said.

Iran will have acquired the Bell 212 before the 1978-79 revolution. While at least 45 years old it had never had access to manufacturer level maintenance or regular replacement parts. It is likely that the helicopter was not equipped for pure instrument flights but required visibility to navigate.

The weather over the mountain range the helicopter was crossing was bad with video from the scene showing heavy fog.

Under such circumstances the flight should not have taken place. But with very important guests on board, who run on a tight schedule, the pilots may have felt a need to fly despite unfavorable weather condition.

I therefore see nothing that would suggest a conspiracy or foreign influence in the incident.

Raisi was on the conservative, and thereby more social, side of Iranian politics. Within the current framework in Iran his successor will likely by from the same political direction.

Iran's Supreme Leader has already announced new elections:

Khamenei.ir @khamenei_ir - 10:05 UTC · May 20, 2024
In accordance with Article 131 of the Constitution, Vice-President Mr. Mokhber will be the head of the Executive Branch & is obliged to cooperate with the heads of the Legislative & Judiciary Branches in facilitating the election of a new president within a maximum of 50 days.

There will be a bit of a rush to decide which personalities will be allowed as candidates for the next presidency.

Election campaigns in Iran are restricted to short periods. Voter turnout is usually low. While there might be surprises when a winner comes up the political system in Iran, established after the revolution, is quite stable and is likely to prevail.

Posted by b on May 20, 2024 at 11:05 UTC | Permalink

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2024/05/p ... l#comments

******

Iran's President Confirmed Dead...
It has been confirmed and the video from the crash site tells about catastrophe, not the hard landing, The helicopter is completely destroyed bar its boom.

Iranian state media have confirmed that President Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash in the northwestern province of East Azerbaijan. His entire entourage, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Governor of East Azerbaijan Malek Rahmati, also perished, Press TV said. The head of state had traveled to the border region after joining Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on Saturday to inaugurate a dam. Raisi had pledged to visit each of Iran’s 30 provinces at least once a year, and regularly traveled around the country. Reports of a “crash landing” began circulating on Sunday afternoon, with Iranian state media citing Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi. According to IRNA news agency, the weather was foggy in the area where the presidential helicopter is believed to have gone down. Raisi was traveling in a US-made Bell 212. Low visibility and the impassibility of the area made search operations difficult, IRNA wrote.

Before we go all Mossad or CIA on it, keep in mind--there was a strong fog. Same happened to General Lebed, at that time Krasnoyarsk Krai governor, who thought that if he was a big boss that this negates the safety procedures. He made pilots fly, heli caught electric lines in fog, crashed and everybody died. So, keep in mind a possibility of TPTB overruling pilots. If the heli itself (granted old Bell 212 could have suffered malfunction prior to crash) could have been the culprit, Iranian Bell was most likely much older than the last Bell 212s delivered in 1998. We may be looking at Bell 212 from 1980 at best. 44 years for heli it is pushing it, especially the one which is not supported by the US but had to be maintained. Other than that, my condolences to the people of Iran. It is a great loss.

http://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2024/05 ... -dead.html

[blindpig]

Raisi's funeral
colonelcassad
May 22, 14:01



A huge number of people at the funeral of Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi.
You can clearly assess whether the deceased was loved or not loved in Iran.





https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/9162295.html

Google Translator

******

Ayataolla Khameinei Presides Over Ebrahim Raisi's Funeral


Ayatollah Khamenei (C) at the funeral services of President Raisi & his companions, May 22, 2024. | Photo: X/ @Syribelle

Millions of Iranians are participating in ceremonies in memory of senior officials who died in a helicopter crash.


On Wednesday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei led prayers at the funeral of President Ebrahim Raisi and his companions.

The ceremony took place at the University of Tehran in front of the coffins of President Raisi, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and the other six people who died in the helicopter crash that occurred on Sunday.

During the religious service, Ayatollah Khamenei was accompanied by government officials, the chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, and the speaker of the Parliament.

After the prayer, a procession began from the University of Tehran to Azadi Square, which was attended by thousands of people bidding farewell to Raisi.

������ | The grandchildren of the martyred beloved President, Sayyed Ibrahim Raisi, in the hands of Islamic Revolution leader, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei this morning. pic.twitter.com/5XfEoC49nG

— Mehdi Rizvi (@MehdiRizvi123) May 22, 2024

Thousands of Iranians participated in the procession, holding pictures of Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian. Some waved the Iranian flag, and people threw flowers over the coffins draped with the national emblem.

With shouts of “God is Greater,” “Death to America,” and “Death to Israel,” the crowd said their final goodbye to Raisi, reaffirming their loyalty to his revolutionary ideals, among which were support for the Palestinian nation and the defense of Iranian independence and sovereignty.

In the afternoon, another funeral ceremony will be held, to which about 20 international delegations have been invited. Among the attendees will be Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani, and Baradar Akhund, the deputy prime minister for economic affairs of Afghanistan's interim government.

Iran has declared five days of national mourning, during which various ceremonies are being held in honor of the president and the foreign minister in different cities across the country.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Aya ... -0005.html

New Information About President Raisi’s Accident


Funeral Ceremony of the President Raisi, May 21, 2024 | Photo: X/ @larevista_unica

Published 21 May 2024 (16 hours 0 minutes ago)

Around 1 pm, in a good and clear climate and without any special weather phenomena, the flight to Tabriz began. But around 45 minutes, the bad weather conditions will led to death , the presidential helicopter.

On Tuesday, the head of the Iranian presidential cabinet, revealed new data about the accident that led to the death of President Ebrahim Rais and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

Around 1 pm, in a good and clear climate and without any special weather phenomena, the flight to Tabriz began.

According to Esmaili, after 45 minutes of flight, a stain-shaped cloud was observed near a mine in a valley. The pilot of the helicopter carrying the president informed the other pilots to go up to reach the clouds.

After 30 seconds of continuing the flight above the clouds, the pilot noticed that the president’s helicopter disappeared.


"As the helicopter was not coming up, our pilot immediately turned around and came back. I asked him why you came back. He said the president’s helicopter had not gone up; it was decided to turn around and find them," confirmed the chief of staff.

"We too, in this part that was cloudy, we did not see the ground below us, it was not possible to return under the clouds, as much as we tried to establish radio communication, it was not possible".

"One or two minutes later, we landed at the Songoon copper mine and continued searching. We tried to call the foreign minister and the head of security, but none responded," Esmaili said.

According to the words of Qolam Hosein, "the flight crew said they had called Captain Mostafavi, who responded and said that it was not well and that they had fallen into a valley and did not mention anything in particular".

The chief of staff also admitted that the conditions of the bodies showed that the president and the other companions had lost their lives immediately.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/New ... -0018.html

[blindpig]

Days after the death of President Ebrahim Raisi, Iran announces elections in June

As per the Iranian constitution, fresh elections must be held within 50 days of the death or resignation of the incumbent president

May 23, 2024 by Peoples Dispatch


The cortege carrying the coffin of President Ebrahim Raeisi moves through crowd of mourners in Mashhad on May 23, 2024. Photo: Tasnim
Iran will hold its next presidential election on June 28, the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported on Tuesday. The elections were called following the death of president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash on May 19.

According to ISNA, Iran’s Guardian Council and the Election Commission have agreed to hold the presidential elections beginning from June 28. Nomination for the candidates would begin on June 10 and results would be announced on July 8.

In Iran’s electoral system, candidates who want to contest elections for the post of president would have to pass the scrutiny of the Guardian Council which may accept or reject any nomination.

As per article 131 of the Iranian Constitution, in case of the death of an incumbent president, fresh elections have to happen within 50 days. This would mean that if a runoff is required because no candidate gets the required absolute majority of votes in the first round of voting on June 28, there would be a run off between the top two candidates before July 8.

President Ebrahim Raisi (63) died in a helicopter crash on Sunday, May 19. Iran’s Foreign Minister Hussein Amir Abdollahian and governor of the East Azerbaijan province Malek Rahmati were also killed in the same accident. The Iranian government, in its initial findings, stated that the helicopter carrying the president and other leaders crashed in the country’s East Azerbaijan province due to the bad weather.

A funeral ceremony for President Raisi and Foreign Minister Abdollahian was held in Tehran on Wednesday in which hundreds of thousands of Iranians participated. Raisi was later buried in his birth place in Iran’s Razavi Khorasan province.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei was accompanied by leaders from various neighboring and other nations including Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Faisal Bin Farhan al-Saud during the ceremony.

Vice president Mohammad Mokhbar will continue to serve as interim president of Iran until the new president is elected.

The anti-imperialist legacy of President Raisi will continue
Raisi was elected president in June 2021 after he defeated his nearest rival Mohsen Rezaei with a significant margin winning over 61% of votes.

Raisi and Abdollahian were considered close to the conservative camp in Iranian politics. However in their foreign and regional policies they pursued an anti-imperialist agenda. They together were considered as architects of Iranian policy of building friendly relations with its neighbors in order to push back the imperialist interventions in the region. Under Raisi’s leadership, Iran ended years of conflict with Saudi Arabia and signed an agreement of reconciliation with it in March last year with Chinese mediation.

The Raisi government was also credited with cementing Iran’s relations with other nations in the Global South. Raisi also consolidated Iran’s relations with Russia and China, cementing its central role in the movement for a multipolar world order.

Khamenei assured that Iran will continue to pursue the policies of regional integration in the future as well. Talking to Qatari Emir Tamim Bin Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani on Wednesday, Khamenei said that, “despite this loss, the country’s course will not change.” He underlined that, given the imperialist attempts to disrupt the peace, countries in the region “have no other option but to support and show solidarity with each other.”

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/05/23/ ... s-in-june/

******

Preliminary report on the Raisi helicopter crash
May 24, 13:07



The General Staff of the Armed Forces published a preliminary report of the High Commission to investigate the causes of the crash of the presidential helicopter.

A significant amount of specialized, technical and general information on the causes of the accident has been collected.

The report states that some facts of the crash have yet to be verified, but some can be said with certainty:

1. The helicopter followed the planned route and did not leave the assigned flight path until the moment the helicopter crashed.

2. The pilot of the crashed helicopter, Raisi, contacted the pilots of two other helicopters one and a half minutes before the crash.

3. No traces of bullet impact on the body of the crashed helicopter were found.

4. The crashed helicopter caught fire only after colliding with the mountain.

5. Due to difficult terrain, fog and low temperatures, the search operation lasted throughout the night and also continued early on Monday morning, and at 5 am the exact coordinates of the disaster were determined with the help of Iranian drones.

6. No suspicious incidents were noted in conversations between the watch tower and the flight crew.

Much of the information requires more careful study, but as a result, the final report will be published to the people of Iran.

@IRANist1 - zinc

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/9165915.html

Google Translator

******

Well-Informed Israeli Security Source: Israel Downed Iranian President’s Helicopter
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on MAY 23, 2024

Richard Silverstein

An Israeli security source hints: Israel assassinated the president of Iran in revenge for the missile attack on Israel.

A Hezbollah-affiliated journalist, Elijah Magnier, has raised the possibility that Israel may have caused the crash which took the life of Pres. Ebrahim Raisi, the foreign minister, and other high level officials: Did the Iranian President’s Helicopter Crash or Get Shot Down? He did not make a definitive statement on the cause. But for a journalist closely allied with Iran to speculate that Israel may have caused the crash, is a clear indication that Iran is taking this possibility seriously.


Pres. Raisi and foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, shortly before helicopter crash.

Magnier’s article did pique my interest, and I pursued the question with an Israeli security source. He confirmed that Israel was responsible. He used a phrase that all but confirms it: “Any head of state ordering an attack on Israel signs his own death sentence.” This likely refers to the massive Iranian missile-drone attack on Israel several weeks ago.

Two main factors weaken the possibility of pilot error or helicopter malfunction. Raisi’s military pilot was highly experienced. Also, the other two helicopters in the convoy successfully reached their destination. All three were in radio contact. If weather had hampered the pilot, he could have communicated this and sent a distress signal. He apparently did not.


Wreckage of Iranian helicopter

The source added that it was “no accident” that Raisi was killed after returning from a dam-opening ceremony with Azerbaijan’s leader, Ilham Aliyev. He is implying that Azerbaijan played a role in the killing. It’s well-known that Israel maintains a massive surveillance presence there. It has Mossad agents, forward listening posts and even airbases. All directed at Iran. There are any number of ways Israel’s assets there could have sabotaged the helicopter.

Iran has had shaky relations with Azerbaijan for some time. There are numerous points of contention between them. If Azeri forces or Israelis based there conducted this operation, it will poison relations between the two countries.

If my source’s claims are correct, all hell will break loose. When the US assassinated Qassem Soleimani, Iran was deterred by fear of US military force. Iran feels no such constraints regarding Israel.

When Israel destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus and assassinated a senior IRG commander, Iran signaled it planned to retaliate. This time, if Iran decides to respond, there will be no such warning.

The killing was an incredibly reckless act. But unfortunately, not surprising given Israel’s record in Gaza for the past eight months. There are no more constraints. No fear of transgressing global norms. No fear of international justice. There is only savagery on a massive scale. Now, any leader Israel has a problem with, can unceremoniously be disposed of.

There is no Israeli strategy behind the killing. Getting rid of Raisi will not change Iran’s posture toward Israel. It will not dent its will to resist. In fact, it will strengthen it. It will rally the populace in support of the government. It will not weaken Iran’s leadership. There are others waiting in the wings to replace him. It is simply murder for murder’s sake. Killing just because you can.

The only thing that might prevent massive Iranian retaliation, is that Israeli fingerprints cannot (yet) be detected. Within days, Iranian officials should know what happened. If Israel used a bomb or missile, this should become known. That being said, the covert nature of the attack might offer Iran some restraint.

Caveat: if true, this report is a bombshell that could destabilize an entire region and soak it in blood than it has seen in years. So I want to acknowledge that this report, while offered by a highly credible source, cannot be independently verified (for obvious reasons). Caution is in order until more corroborating evidence is known.

RAISI

The plot thickens – as it should.

Elijah Magnier – who is a very good analyst – asks all the right questions:https://t.co/mikyiOjLtc

Yet everything remains conditional.

Here we go a step further: a “highly credible” Israeli security source openly boasting that “any…

— Pepe Escobar (@RealPepeEscobar) May 23, 2024

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2024/05/ ... elicopter/

Who ya gonna believe, the Iranians or the Israelis?

Could be the Zionists are stirring the pot, hoping for a violent Iranian response that will draw the US in kinetically. Brings to mind during that wave terrorism in Europe how every pipsqueak outfit tried to take credit for every action they had no part in.

Wouldn't be the first time a good journalist got taken by government disinformation, these occurrences have been numerous last couple of years.

[blindpig]

Israel v Iran: The missiles of April
Iran’s retaliatory attack on Israel will go down in history as one of the greatest victories in the country’s modern history.


Scores of Iranian missiles and drones were used to demonstrate the vulnerability of Israel’s air defences in April. Despite a combined (and totally unsustainable) spend of $3.5bn in a single night, the joint efforts of Israel, the USA and Britain were together unable to prevent Iranian missiles from reaching their targets. While no real damage was done this time, the message was delivered loud and clear.
Scott Ritter

Sunday 26 May 2024

The following article is reproduced from Scott Ritter Extra with thanks.

*****

I’ve been writing about Iran for more than two decades. In 2005, I made a trip to Iran to ascertain the ‘ground truth’ about that nation, a truth which I then incorporated into a book, Target Iran, laying out the US-Israeli collaboration to craft a justification for a military attack on Iran designed to bring down its theocratic government. I followed this book up with another, Dealbreaker, in 2018, which brought this US-Israeli effort up to date.

Back in November 2006, in an address to Columbia University’s School of International Relations, I underscored that the United States would never abandon my ‘good friend’ Israel – until, of course, we did. What could precipitate such an action, I asked? I noted that Israel was a nation drunk of hubris and power, and unless the United States could find a way to remove the keys from the ignition of the bus Israel was navigating toward the abyss, we would not join Israel in its lemming-like suicidal journey.

The next year, in 2007, during an address to the American Jewish Committee, I pointed out that my criticism of Israel (which many in the audience took strong umbrage against) came from a place of concern for Israel’s future. I underscored the reality that I had spent the better part of a decade trying to protect Israel from Iraqi missiles, both during my service in Desert Storm, where I played a role in the counter-Scud missile campaign, and as a United Nations weapons inspector, where I worked with Israeli intelligence to make sure Iraq’s Scud missiles were eliminated

“The last thing I want to see,” I told the crowd, “is a scenario where Iranian missiles were impacting on the soil of Israel. But unless Israel changes course, this is the inevitable outcome of a policy driven more by arrogance than common sense.”

On the night of 13-14 April 2024, my concerns were played out live before an international audience – Iranian missiles rained down on Israel, and there was nothing Israel could do to stop them. As had been the case a little more than 33 years earlier, when Iraqi Scud missiles overcame US and Israeli Patriot missile defences to strike Israel dozens of times over the course of a month and a half, Iranian missiles, integrated into a plan of attack that was designed to overwhelm Israeli missile defence systems, struck designated targets inside Israel with impunity.

Despite having employed an extensive integrated anti-missile defence system comprising the so-called ‘Iron Dome’ system, US-made Patriot missile batteries, and the Arrow and David’s Sling missile interceptors, along with US, British, and Israeli aircraft, and US and French shipborne anti-missile defences, well over a dozen Iranian missiles struck heavily-protected Israeli airfields and air defence installations.

The Iranian missile attack on Israel did not come out of the blue, so to speak, but rather was retaliation for the 1 April Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate building in Damascus, Syria, which killed several senior Iranian military commanders. While Israel has carried out attacks against Iranian personnel inside Syria in the past, the 1 April strike differed by not only killing very senior Iranian personnel but by striking what was legally speaking sovereign Iranian territory – the Iranian consulate.

From an Iranian perspective, the attack on the consulate was a red line which, if not retaliated against, would erase any notion of deterrence, opening the door for even more brazen Israeli military action, up to and including direct attacks on Iran. Weighing against retaliation, however, were a complex web of interwoven policy objectives that would probably be mooted by the kind of large-scale conflict between Israel and Iran that could be precipitated by any meaningful Iranian retaliatory strike on Israel.

First and foremost, Iran has been engaged in a strategic policy premised on a pivot away from Europe and the United States, and toward Russia, China, and the Eurasian landmass. This shift has been driven by Iran’s frustration over the US-driven policy of economic sanctions, and the inability and/or unwillingness of the collective west to find a path forward that would see these sanctions lifted.

The failure of the Iranian nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA) to produce the kind of economic opportunities that had been promised at its signing has been a major driver behind this Iranian eastward pivot. In its stead, Iran has joined both the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the Brics forum, and has directed its diplomatic energies into seeing Iran thoroughly and productively integrated into both groups.

A general war with Israel would play havoc with these efforts.

Secondly, but no less important in the overall geopolitical equation for Iran, is the ongoing conflict in Gaza. This is a game-changing event, where Israel is facing strategic defeat at the hands of Hamas and its regional allies, including the Iranian-led Axis of Resistance. For the first time ever, the issue of Palestinian statehood has been taken up by a global audience.

This cause is further facilitated by the fact that the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu, formed from a political coalition that is vehemently opposed to any notion of Palestinian statehood, finds itself in danger of collapse as a direct result of the consequences accrued from the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023, and the subsequent failure of Israel to defeat Hamas militarily or politically.

Israel is likewise hampered by the actions of Hezbollah, which has held Israel in check along its northern border with Lebanon, and non-state actors such as the pro-Iranian Iraqi militias and the Houthi of Yemen, which have attacked Israel directly and, in the case of the Yemenis, indirectly, shutting down critical sea lines of communication and thus strangling the Israeli economy.

But it is Israel that has done the most damage to itself, carrying out a genocidal policy of retribution against the civilian population of Gaza. The Israeli actions in Gaza are the living manifestation of the very hubris and power-driven policies I warned about back in 2006-07. Then, I said that the USA would not be willing to be a passenger in a policy bus driven by Israel that would take us off the cliff of an unwinnable war with Iran.

Through its criminal behaviour toward the Palestinian civilians in Gaza, Israel has lost the support of much of the world, putting the United States in a position where it will see its already-tarnished reputation irreparably damaged at a time when the world is transitioning from a period of American-dominated singularity to a Brics-driven multipolarity, and the USA needs to retain as much clout in the so-called ‘global south’ as possible.

The USA has tried – unsuccessfully – to take the keys out of the ignition of Netanyahu’s suicide bus ride. Faced with extreme reluctance on the part of the Israeli government when it comes to altering its policy on Hamas and Gaza, the administration of President Joe Biden has begun to distance itself from Netanyahu’s policies and has put Israel on notice that there would be consequences for its refusal to alter its actions in Gaza to take US concerns into account.

Any Iranian retaliation against Israel would need to navigate these extremely complicated policy waters, enabling Iran to impose a viable deterrence posture designed to prevent future Israeli attacks, while making sure that neither its policy objectives regarding a geopolitical pivot to the east nor the elevation of the cause of Palestinian statehood on the global stage were sidetracked.

The Iranian attack on Israel appears to have successfully manoeuvred through these rocky policy shoals. It did so first and foremost by keeping the United States out of the fight.

Yes, the United States participated in the defence of Israel, helping shoot down scores of Iranian drones and missiles. This engagement was to the benefit of Iran, since it only reinforced the fact that there was no combination of missile defence capability that could, in the end, prevent Iranian missiles from hitting their designated targets.

The targets Iran struck – two air bases in the Negev desert from which aircraft used in the 1 April attack on the Iranian consulate had been launched, along with several Israeli air defence sites – were directly related to the points Iran was trying to make in establishing the scope and scale of its deterrence policy.

First, that the Iranian actions were justified under Article 51 of the UN charter – Iran retaliated against those targets in Israel directly related to the Israeli attack on Iran. And second, that Israeli air defence sites were vulnerable to Iranian attack. The combined impact of these two factors is that all of Israel was vulnerable to being struck by Iran at any time, and that there is nothing Israel or its allies could do to stop such an attack.

This message resonated not only in the halls of power in Tel Aviv but also in Washington DC, where US policymakers were confronted with the uncomfortable truth that if the USA were to act in concert with Israel to either participate in or facilitate an Israeli retaliation, then US military facilities throughout the middle east would be subjected to Iranian attacks that the USA would be powerless to stop.

This is why the Iranians placed so much emphasis on keeping the USA out of the conflict, and why the Biden administration was so anxious to make sure that both Iran and Israel understood that the USA would not participate in any Israeli retaliatory strike against Iran.

The ‘missiles of April’ represent a sea-change moment in middle-eastern geopolitics – the establishment of Iranian deterrence that impacts both Israel and the United States.

While emotions in Tel Aviv, especially amongst the more radical conservatives of the Israeli government, run high, and the threat of an Israeli retaliation against Iran cannot be completely discounted, the fact is that the underlying policy objective of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the course of the past 30-plus years – namely, to drag the USA into a war with Iran – has been put into checkmate by Iran.

Moreover, Iran has been able to accomplish this without either disrupting its strategic pivot to the east or undermining the cause of Palestinian statehood.

‘Operation True Promise’, as Iran named its retaliatory attack on Israel, will go down in history as one of the most important military victories in the history of modern Iran, keeping in mind that war is but an extension of politics by other means.

The fact that Iran has established a credible deterrence posture without disrupting major policy goals and objectives is the very definition of victory.

https://thecommunists.org/2024/05/26/ne ... les-april/

******

A tribute to the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi[
May 25, 2024

Earlier today, I accepted an invitation from Iran’s Press TV to give my appreciation of President Raisi, who died tragically in a helicopter crash a week ago.

See https://www.urmedium.net/c/presstv/129636

The two key words that come to mind to characterize Ebrahim Raisi are dignity and restraint. These very positive features of the man who steered the ship of state through the turbulent waters of the past couple of years in turn were surely reinforced by the close mutual bonds established during his tenure with both Russia and China in the context of BRICS.

Transcript below by a reader

PressTV: 0:02
And now joining us from Brussels is Gilbert Doctorow, independent international affairs analyst, for more on the life and legacy of late Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi and his foreign minister Hossein Amiri Abdullahi, among others, aboard that fatal helicopter crash, northwestern Iranian mountains. Mr Doctorow, your initial thoughts on the passing of the Iranian president?

Dr Gilbert Doctorow: 0:26
Two words that come to mind when I pay my tribute to President Raisi, and these words are dignity and restraint. I think his presence at the helm of the Iranian state during the last very difficult months and couple of years now– when Israel has been so provocative and has committed such outrages against the Muslim community in the Middle East– his presence at the helm was very important to prevent the conflict from going in the most dangerous directions. As it was, there was a brief direct exchange of “courtesies” between Iran and Israel following the Israeli attack on sovereign property of Iran in his diplomatic mission. The message that was sent by Iran surely had been approved by the president, and it was one that was effective, at the same time did not cause calamitous damage, did not cause loss of life.

1:39
But the message that was sent was understood, and that is that Iran is fully capable of utterly destroying Israel at any moment of its choosing, with missiles that pass through the Iron Dome. So this restraint was most important for Iran, for the region, and for the world at large.

PressTV:
Right, and it was a really trying time for the President and his Foreign Minister, Mr. Doctorow, post-October 7th, with this onslaught we’ve seen on Gaza, this filthy campaign of genocide. Are you surprised that you saw more perseverance and resources exhausted, political capital for that matter, to bring an end to the suffering of the Palestinians by two leaders from Iran rather than so many world Arab leaders and Muslim leaders that’s pretty much sat by. Many condemnations but very [little], if any action.

Doctorow: 2:41
Well, I think that the inaction of other regional players may be attributable to the bullying that they receive from the United States, whereas Iran is fully capable to stand up to the United States, as it has demonstrated. And that is what separates its policies with respect to Gaza from those of other neighbors who are, even of a significant neighbor like Turkey, who are speaking loud words and doing absolute nothing. Iran does. Iran has very effectively worked with its network of partners in the region. These are militias, these are …the Houthis. They are encouraged and assisted by Iran, and they have been giving back to the United States a lesson from its own rule book on how you conduct proxy wars.

PressTV: 3:40
And do you agree with his staunch opposition to U.S. military or at all, even bureaucratic presence in the region of West Asia? He was very against the apartheid, the usurping regime in Tel Aviv. But just as much so he was against U.S. military and diplomatic presence in West Asia and all the interference and bullying and dictates that comes with it.


Doctorow: 4:05
Well, the position of Iran in international affairs is well bookmarked by its membership in BRICS, and it has at its side the most important economic and military forces in the world. By that I mean China and Russia. This, I think, gives a certain assurance and self-confidence to the leaders of Iran, which…

PressTV: 4:39
Okay. Mr. Doctorow … I appreciate you joining us. Just toward the end of your remarks there, we’re getting a choppy feed now, but we got the most, about 90 percent, of what you said earlier on. So I want to appreciate you. actually accepting the invite and coming on the program to speak and bless you and stay good. Thanks. From Brussels, Gilbert Doctorow there, independent international affairs analyst joining us.

https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2024/05/25/ ... him-raisi/

[blindpig]

IRAN INCIDENT, PERSIAN PUTSCH — EVIDENCE THAT PRESIDENT RAISI, FOREIGN MINISTER AMIR-ABDOLLAHIAN WERE MURDERED



by John Helmer, Moscow @bears_with

The release of fresh details of the fatal helicopter flight on May 19 which killed Iran’s President, Ebrahim Raisi, and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is ruling out bad weather, machine failure, signals interference, on-board bomb or ground-fired missile as the cause of the crash. Iranian civilian, military and clerical officials are also excluding Israeli or US involvement.

Instead, Raisi’s chief of staff, Gholam-Hossein Esmaeili, a civilian lawyer and Raisi loyalist for many years, has described a sequence of details, preceding and following the incident, which hint at suicide murder by one of the pilots of the presidential aircraft.

Esmaeili made his remarks on Tehran television on the evening of May 21. He revealed that Raisi’s helicopter was flying second in a convoy of three aircraft, while Esmaeili was flying third, behind Raisi, when his helicopter “suddenly disappeared”. The pilot of the third helicopter then “decided to circle and return to search for the President’s helicopter”.

Esmaeili also said that attempted calls to Raisi, Amir-Abdollahian, and the pilot of their aircraft, Colonel Seyed Taher Mostafavi, all failed to produce a response. However, two calls were answered by Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Al-Hashem, the only passenger who appeared to survive the impact and fire of the crash, but died soon after. Al-Hashem represents the clerical power in East Azerbaijan province. According to Esmaeili, Al-Hashem said “our situation is not good, the copter has crashed into the valley”.

Al-Hashem’s remark appears to rule out a missile strike or bomb explosion.

Esmaeili’s statements rule out adverse weather conditions and the sight or sound of mid-air explosion.

An Iranian Army General Staff statement, issued last Friday May 24, after investigation of radar, radio, other telecommunications, and the aircraft debris, has confirmed normal navigation and communications between the helicopter pilots and with ground controllers. “Gunshot wounds or similar ones have not been seen in the remaining parts of the helicopter,” the report claims, “in the conversations of the control tower with the flight crew, no suspicious cases have been observed.”

The implication is also that there were no sudden machine failures triggering loss of pilot control and indicated by either pilot or automatic instrument distress signals.

Because the Raisi aircraft disappeared into clouds ahead of Esmaeili, and there was no heat burst from missile or bomb strike, satellite images by Russian, US, or Chinese satellites are unlikely to have recorded what happened. The signals intelligence collected by Russia and the US is also unlikely to have recorded more than Esmaeili has admitted.

That leaves the Russian hint published by Konstantin Malofeyev, owner and editor-in-chief of Tsargrad, citing a retired Russian Air Force general. According to Major General Vladimir Popov (retired), “the main threat to top officials during air travel comes from themselves”.

The mainstream Russian press, the Moscow military bloggers, and RT, the state propaganda organ, have all avoided analysis of the incident forensics and speculation of motive; they have stuck to repeating official Iranian news releases. RT’s version of Esmaeili’s statements is significantly shorter and less comprehending than the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) report and the Times of India video.

“Esmaeili’s statement points to Raisi’s pilot making the decision to crash,” comments a western military source. “Why order the other two aircraft to ascend and get above the clouds, and then not do so himself?”

The chief pilot of the presidential aircraft was Colonel Seyed Taher Mostafavi; his co-pilot was Colonel Mohsen Daryanush. Their chief mechanic was Behrouz Ghadimi.


The presidential helicopter flight crew who died in the incident, left to right: technician Behrouz Ghadimi, pilot Seyed Taher Mostafavi, and co-pilot Mohsen Daryanush.

The Russian military bloggers have remained under-informative and non-committal. The Militarist and Boris Rozhin’s Colonel Cassad have republished in Russian the Iranian General Staff’s report without comment on what is missing from the analysis and what remains to be investigated. They, and Yevgeny Krutikov’s Mudraya Ptitsa, have all ignored Esmaeili’s television testimony. This lack of interest in the forensics of a high-profile incident in an allied country implies there is pressure from the Kremlin, Defense Ministry and GRU not to probe and not to speculate.

The General Staff report appears to signal that the Iranian Army will not be investigating foul play.

“Presidential Helicopter Accident Reported: No Bullet Wounds or Similar Reports



The first report of the General Staff of the Armed Forces was published on the President’s helicopter accident.

The statement of the Armed Forces Headquarters is as follows: Inform the dear and noble people of Islamic Iran that the High Council of the Armed Forces to investigate the dimensions and causes of the helicopter crash carrying the President, the martyr of Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi and his companions martyred the Martyr of the Highness by organizing specialized and technical expert groups on Monday morning of 1403.2.31 5: 30 a.m. from Tehran and at 9 a.m. that same day they showed up at the site of the helicopter crash.

A significant amount of information has been collected in various specialized, technical and public areas that could have been involved in the accident.

Some actions for definitive comment require more time to be considered and some can be stated with certainty that they are being addressed:

1. The helicopter has already continued on the predicted path and has not departed from the designated flight path.
2. About a minute and a half before the helicopter crash, the pilot of the crashed helicopter communicated with two other helicopters of the flight group.
3. Gunshot wounds or similar ones have not been seen in the remaining parts of the helicopter.
4. The helicopter crashed after hitting the height, fire.
5. Due to the complexity of the area, fogging and low temperatures, the search is conducted at night and continues throughout the night, and on Monday morning (5 am) with the help of unmanned birds (Iranian) exact point of the crash site and ground forces will be present at that point.
6. In the conversations of the control tower with the flight crew, no suspicious cases have been observed.

At the end of the day, a significant part of the documents related to the helicopter crash have been collected and for some parts and documents, more time is needed, which after the evaluation and expert work and more detailed expertise will be heard in the next announcements and heard by the noble and revolutionary nation of Iran; therefore, [the Army] demands that inexpert comments based on speculation without any accurate knowledge of the reality of the scene or sometimes under direction of foreign media in cyberspace should not be published.”

The warning at the end of the General Staff report has been ignored by the oppositionist Iranian media organization, Iran International TV, which is hinting that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) plotted to kill the president. Iran International is an anti-clerical, anti-regime publication based in London and Washington, and reportedly financed by Saudi Arabia.


Source: https://www.iranintl.com/en/202405277901

In its report, Iran International claims “that the President’s bodyguard was notably absent from the ill-fated helicopter…The latest images of Ebrahim Raisi show his bodyguard was almost always at his side. However, the released list of casualties revealed that he was not onboard. Given that the Bell 212 helicopter can accommodate 15 passengers but only had 8 on board, the question arises: why did Ebrahim Raisi’s personal bodyguard continue the journey in a different helicopter? Javad Mehrabi, the bodyguard of Iran’s President, continued the journey in one of the other two helicopters accompanying the president.”

https://johnhelmer.net/iran-incident-pe ... more-89893

[blindpig]

READY RECKONER FOR KILLING – THE RAISI ASSASSINATION



by John Helmer, Moscow @bears_with

It was a frustrated Sherlock Holmes who told Dr Watson: “You will not apply my precept,” he said, shaking his head. “How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?”

That was in 1890 in the Arthur Conan Doyle story, “The Sign of Four”.

Application of this Holmes rule of detection and deduction to the circumstances of the crash of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter on May 19 is now producing the inescapable conclusion that Raisi, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and the six others on board their aircraft were killed by the actions of one or both of the pilots, who intended their own suicide and the killing of their passengers.

This appears not to have been the conclusion of the Iranian Air Force commanders who paid a condolence visit to the families of the pilots on May 21, two days after their deaths.

But with the release last week by the Iranian Army’s General Staff of its second report on the fatal crash, the elimination of weather, machine failure, external missile attack, on-board bomb, electronic sabotage, and pilot navigational error is now complete. Together with the first General Staff report, the detailed Teheran television interview of Raisi’s chief of staff, Gholam-Hossein Esmaeili, and the eyewitness testimony by telephone from the crash scene by the Tabriz ayatollah, Mohammad Ali Al-Hashem, the evidence remaining is that the highly experienced chief pilot, Colonel Seyed Taher Mostafavi (lead image, right) made three mistakes — the first, to fly into the cloud bank after he ordered the others to climb above; the second, not to detect on his radar and other instruments the sharp mountain peaks in close proximity to his flight course at 2,200 metres; and the third, to crash in horizontal orientation, not vertically nose first.

Hattricks are rare, but they are never mistakes, never accidental.

To catch up on the forensic details as they were initially confirmed for the fatal incident, read this piece of May 27.

For a summary of the contradictory media reporting from Iranian military and other local sources, assembled by an anti-regime source in London, click to read. Israeli fabrication and disinformation on the incident is of decidedly lower quality than the Iranian propaganda; click to compare.

OVERVIEW OF THE HELICOPTER CONVOY ROUTE


Source: https://thecradle.co/

SATELLITE VIEW OF THE CLOUD COVER OF THE ROUTE AND CRASH SITE


Source: https://www.iranintl.com
Iran International, an anti-regime medium based in London and Washington, financed by Saudis, concluded its coverage on May 23 with an account of contradictory media reports. This piece reached no conclusions, and so far it has not been updated.

In the state news agency report, published late on May 29, the Army investigators concluded “based on sampling and tests conducted on the wreckage and parts of the helicopter, as well as the distribution pattern of the debris from the main body, the occurrence of an explosion caused by sabotage during the flight and moments before the impact with the mountainside is ruled out, the report said. Additionally, investigators carefully examined the vast majority of the documents related to the maintenance of the helicopter and found no issue that could have played a role in the accident, it added.”

“The report also revealed that the helicopter’s capacity in terms of the maximum standard load it could carry at the point of take-off and throughout the flight path and the return route was found to have been within the ‘permissible limit.’ The recorded conversations between the flight crew show that the last contact with the pilots up to the time of the incident and when they stopped responding lasted 69 seconds, and no emergency declaration was recorded during that time, it added.”

“The military investigators also ruled out any disruption in the communication system or frequency interference with the helicopter. They revealed that during the flight and up to 69 seconds before the crash, contact with the aircraft had been maintained on the specified frequencies. The report further said that there were no signs of any cyberattack carried out against the presidential helicopter.”

What is missing from the second Army report is the radar and black-box records of whether in the last 69 seconds there was a bearing or course change by Mostafavi at the controls of the president’s aircraft. In the Army’s first report, it was claimed “the helicopter has already continued on the predicted path and has not departed from the designated flight path.”

A western military aviation expert refers to the training manual for the Bell 212 model of helicopter in which Raisi was travelling. This source says that the technical data the Army will have checked but have yet to reveal, include:

— altitude of the convoy when Mostafavi gave the order to climb above the clouds

— speed of the aircraft at that time

— course and bearing of the front and rear aircraft

— record of course deviation by the Raisi aircraft in the final 69 seconds

— altimeter specifications in the Bell-212 helicopter

— technical factors explaining why Raisi’s aircraft did not gain altitude after Mostafavi gave the climb order to the convoy.

From the geographical coordinates published for the crash site, the altitude at which the crash occurred has been estimated at 2,200 metres.


Left, drone image above the crash site. Right, video from rescuer at ground level which appears to show the body of Al-Hashem clear of the crash debris.

This is how the eyewitness in the third helicopter, behind Raisi’s aircraft, described the altitude, cloud and weather conditions: “Esmaeili:..There was fog on the ground, but not in up the air where we were advancing with the helicopters. However, in one small compacted area, there was a small patch of clouds above a cliff. In terms of height, this cloud was at the same height as our flight’s height. It was there that the now-martyred helicopter pilot [Mostafavi], who was also the commander of the fleet, told the rest of the pilots to ascend above the clouds. We were third behind the president’s helicopter. We rose above the clouds and advanced for approximately 30 seconds. Our pilot suddenly realized that the main helicopter carrying the president was missing.”

Esmaeili said the pilot of his aircraft estimated that 90 seconds had elapsed between the radio contact of Mostafavi giving the order to climb above the cloud bank and the “disappearance”. “…we also have no radio contact with it anymore. So I asked him when was the last time contact was made? The pilot answered, ‘A minute and 30 seconds ago when the pilot [Mostafavi] told us to ascend above the clouds.’”

Esmaeili is explicit. It had been Mostafavi who had been at the controls of Raisi’s aircraft and who gave the order to the others to climb above the cloud.



Esmaeili also revealed the direct testimony of Al-Hashem, who was thrown clear of the helicopter fuselage at the crash and was not reached by the fire which consumed the other passengers in the cabin. “After some tries, calling the cellphone of the captain [Mostafavi] accompanying the president, someone picked up the phone. It was Ayatollah Hashem, the Friday Imam of Tabriz. He told us that he was not feeling well. He didn’t tell us anything special. I asked him what exactly had happened. He told us that he didn’t know what had happened, and when asked about his whereabouts, he said that he didn’t know. He only described what he could see, described to us what he saw, for example, how he was surrounded by trees. I asked him about the condition of the others, the Ayatollah replied that he’s alone and couldn’t see anyone else and he’s alone.”



In Esmaeili’s account, he and others were able to speak to Al-Hashem over a three-to-four hour period. The telephone which Al-Hashem answered was Mostafavi’s, according to Esmaeili.

The western aviation source comments: “We can be certain that there was no noticeable or alarming acceleration due to increasing throttle, a dive, or both. We have Al-Hashem’s last communications verifying this, as well as 90 seconds of no radio traffic which in an emergency of this kind typically includes cries for help or other chatter identifying a struggle in the cockpit. This makes me wonder if the crew had made a pact.”

“We assume the [Bell] 212 was cruising at 190kph. The final communication with the pilot was 90 seconds before the crash. The math tells me that in those 90 seconds the 212 flew 4,769m horizontally. We don’t know the altitude of the group before the order to climb was given, but we do know the service ceiling of the 212 is 5300m, so there was plenty of capacity to get above the 2200m height of the mountain where the aircraft ended up.”

“The 212 is equipped with a radio altimeter. This equipment generally stops giving height indications at 2500ft/ 762m. We have no evidence [from Al-Hashem] that the altimeter sounded off or that any of the flight crew or passengers heard it before the crash. The altimeter could have been disabled. By the looks of the crash site, the 212 didn’t hit a sheer cliff or steep mountainside, so we can expect that the altimeter would have sounded before collision if it had been working and/or been monitored.”

“Now, the key thing is that the pilot ordered the other two helicopters to climb, while he did not. He flew into the clouds. Did he descend, or just fly into the mountain at 190kph? Did he know that on his current course the altimeter, if it was working, would not sound due to the slope of the terrain until it was too late to change course? The Army says there was no course change during the flight, but did the pilot, instead of descending into the clouds, change course while maintaining altitude after entering the cloud cover, thus hitting the mountain. This would explain the calmness of all on board.”

“The pilot knew exactly what he was doing.”

Suspicion of pilot suicide in an assassination plot has not been reported in the Iranian domestic media, in the two Army reports, or in the Iranian opposition media outside the country. Nor has it surfaced in the Russian military blogs.

There appears to have been no suspicion of the two pilots, Mostafavi and Colonel Mohsen Daryanosh, in the first days after the incident when their families and homes were visited by Brigadier General Hamid Vahedi, the Iranian Air Force commander, and Brigadier General Massoud Jafari, commander of Shahid Lashgari Air Base.


Source: https://www.presstv.ir/

How and why Mostafavi gave his personal telephone to Ayatollah Al-Hashem before the flight began is an unanswered question. In the circumstances now, so too is the question of what evidence Mostafavi left on his telephone, if any.

https://johnhelmer.net/ready-reckoner-f ... more-89929