Russia blames US sanctions for the helicopter crash

The US-made Bell 212 helicopter taking off with Raisi and the others on board

* Countries facing US sanctions do not receive spare parts for American equipment, including aviation

* We are talking about deliberately causing damage to ordinary citizens who use these vehicles

* And when spare parts are not supplied, this is directly related to a decrease in the level of safety

Sky News & Washington Post

American sanctions on Iran have worsened aviation safety to levels that allowed Sunday’s helicopter crash that killed President Raisi, alleges Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.

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“The Americans disown this, but the truth is that other countries against which the United States announced sanctions do not receive spare parts for American equipment, including aviation,” Lavrov said about the crash.

“We are talking about deliberately causing damage to ordinary citizens who use these vehicles, and when spare parts are not supplied, this is directly related to a decrease in the level of safety.”

Iranian media reported that images from the site showed the US-made Bell 212 helicopter on which Raisi was travelling slammed into a mountain peak, although there was no official word on the cause of the crash.

Iran was a major buyer of Bell helicopters under the Shah before the 1979 Islamic revolution, though the exact origin of the aircraft that crashed was not clear. 

Decades of sanctions have made it hard for Iran to obtain parts or upgrade its aircraft.

But the US continue to disassociate themselves from the innuendos being made, with Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin telling a news conference: “The United States had no part to play” in the crash that killed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and other Iranian officials, Monday.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin

A US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss Washington’s assessment of what happened, said the crash appears to have been an accident, not foul play. The assessment matches what Iranian state media has reported.

Iranian protesters react to president’s death

Meanwhile, Raisi’s death has been described as ‘very good news’ by a group of Iranians who protests against the Islamic regime.

“One dead president the fall of a regime does not make” is the bitter truth for those brave Iranians speaking out and the millions of Iranians they represent.  

They detest a man who presided over a brutal crackdown on protests that saw hundreds killed on the streets, and thousands incarcerated, tortured, raped or killed after their arbitrary arrest.

But there are reasons for Iranians to find hope some hope in the news of the president’s death and analysts have compared the Iranian theocratic Islamic regime to the Soviet Union in its dying days.

It is ideologically bankrupt — its people do not believe in what it stands for anymore. It is morally bankrupt too, after the brutal repression that crushed the ‘Women, Life and Freedom’ protests.  

It remains powerful, with many people on its payroll, and it is hard to predict how or when it falls, but Iran’s people want one thing and its government the opposite — and that ultimately is impossible to sustain.

Raisi had a unique skillset — he was both a zealous ideologue and, as an ex-judge, a man who understood how both Iran’s judiciary and presidency works.

Raisi

Supreme Leader Khamenei

He combined a passionate belief in the Iranian revolution with an expertise in how its regime operated — and it has been said many times in the last 24 hours that Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, will find another hardliner to replace him.

There are plenty more where he came from — but no one with quite his skills and expertise. That may not be important immediately but at the moment of greatest danger in the not so distant future, when Khamenei dies, it could make all the difference.

With no anointed successor, the supreme leader’s passing could usher in a period of instability and weakness for the regime. 

Raisi was seen as a potential successor but also a powerful stabilising force as president in that perilous hiatus, someone who could hold the ring while the new order is established and power struggles fought out.

Raisi’s death may well not mean immediate change for Iran but it could bring ultimately hasten its end.

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