Presidential plane crashes
US should help Iran search for crashed helicopter
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi (M.) visits a flood area in Firuzkuh by helicopter in the summer of 2022
© Iranian Presidency/Zuma Press Wire / DPA
Two days after the death of Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, national mourning begins in the country. A new election date is scheduled for the end of June. And apparently the government in Tehran has asked its archenemy, the USA, for help.
After the fatal crash of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter, Tehran has its arch-enemy USA asked for help. “We have been asked for assistance by the Iranian government,” said US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. “We said we were ready to help – something we would do for any government in such a situation.”
USA: No help for Iran for “logistical reasons”.
Ultimately, however, the US was unable to provide the requested assistance “mainly for logistical reasons,” said Miller, without giving further details. He also did not want to comment on the form of communication between the two countries, which have no longer had diplomatic relations since the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979.
Raisi and Amirabdollahian died in a helicopter crash on Sunday. There is currently no reliable information about the cause of the crash, in which all seven other occupants of the helicopter died. The country’s army chief, General Mohammed Bagheri, ordered a thorough investigation.
Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said everything indicates that the crash of Raisi’s helicopter was an accident. Responsible could be “a number of things – mechanical failure, pilot error, whatever,” he said. In any case, the USA had “nothing to do with it. That is simply a fact.”
Are sanctions to blame for the crash?
In the past, Iranian government officials have repeatedly blamed Israel or the USA for security incidents in Iran. Former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif recently made a connection between the helicopter crash and US sanctions that prohibit the sale of spare parts for the aviation industry.
State Department spokesman Miller commented on Zarif’s comments by saying that ultimately the Iranian government itself was “responsible for the decision to fly a 45-year-old helicopter in bad weather conditions.”
Five days of national mourning after Raisi’s death
Funeral ceremonies have now been scheduled in the country itself. On Tuesday morning there will first be a ceremony in the northwest of the country in the provincial capital Tabris. According to Iranian media, a ceremony is then planned in the pilgrim city of Qom. The date for the funeral of the two statesmen is not yet known. Iran’s religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered five days of national mourning.
Meanwhile, Raisi’s first deputy, Mohammed Mochber, took over official duties in Iran. New elections could take place as early as June 28, as Isna reported, citing a spokesman for the electoral authority. This would mean that candidates could register from May 28th. However, the date has not yet been officially confirmed.
Unlike in many countries, the president in Iran is not the head of state, but merely the head of government. The real power is concentrated in the religious leader, who has the final say in all strategic matters. Since 1989 this has been Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.