Author : Rumana Reza
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Source: https://www.deccanherald.com/india/pm-modi-speaks-to-iranian-prez-ebrahim-raisi-on-bilateral-cooperation-chabahar-port-2652600
(Last accessed on May 23,2024)
As like as the picture
above where a misinformation is provided (That person in the photo is Ex Iran
President Hassan Rouhani, not Ebrahim Raisi), Raisi’s helicopter crash is also
having so many confusing information. This kind of inconsistency making it foggier
than the foggy weather of the incident, occurred on May 19, 2024 at around
13:30 local time in a remote, mountainous area about 58 km south of the
Qiz-Qalasi Dam and 2km south-west of the village of Uzi, according to Iranian
officials. More specifically, the crash site is in the Dizmar Forest, between
Varzeghan and Jolfa in East Azerbaijan province, close to the border with the
Azerbaijan Republic.
On the same day,
President Raisi had a program to attend a ceremony to launch a road project in Armenia
— a road leading from the Iranian border to Kajaran, a town in Armenia’s
Syunik province. “The Armenian government on Monday did not deny or
confirm reports that Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi cancelled at the last
minute a visit to Armenia scheduled for Sunday, the day that he died in a
helicopter crash.
“Information is
officially given about confirmed visits of high-ranking officials to Armenia,”
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Ani Badalian said in a short statement to RFE/RL’s
Armenian Service. She did not comment further.
According to citing an
unnamed “source,” Russia’s leading state news agency, TASS, reported that “The
visit was postponed at the last moment.””
Source: Latest photos of
Iranian president before helicopter crash on border with Azerbaijan. / bne
IntelliNews https://www.intellinews.com/iranian-official-reports-no-contact-with-president-raisi-s-helicopter-325897/ (last accessed on May 26, 2024)
It sounds so mysterious, that why had Raisi
changed his mind at the last moment? Why had he decided to go by such an old Bell
212 helicopter to fly in a mountainous region in bad weather? Even though the US has severe allergies to
him, how could he prefer to pick up a helicopter built in the US? Did not he
have the self-respect?
Source: Iranian President
Ebrahim Raisi visits the military equipment of IRGC Navy, in Bandar Abbas,
Iran, on Feb. 2. Copyright Iranian Presidency Office via AP
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-iran-wont-start-a-war-but-will-respond-to-bullies-president-ebrahim/ (last accessed on May 25,2024)
Questions to ‘the Answers’
by Nour News
Nour News, a news outlet linked
to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), justified choosing that helicopter
by praising its engine quality. “The helicopter, which has a capacity of 14
people, flew with nine passengers for security reasons and to ensure safer
flight conditions,”
it added. …. Is not that statement
self-contradictory? If the authority can rely on that multipurpose helicopter
and on those old engines’ power so that the chopper can continue flying with
one engine if the other fails, then why did they keep nine passengers instead
of 14 for safer flight conditions? Additionally, it also answered the critics’ question by
ensuring that, as per one of the main and unavoidable protocols before any
flight, the helicopter’s technical condition, health, and weather conditions
along the flight path were checked. If so, then why has the Turkish transport
minister, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, told reporters that on hearing news of the
crash, Turkish authorities had checked for a signal from the helicopter’s
transponder that broadcasts height and location information , but most likely
the transponder system was turned off or that the helicopter did not have one? Then what kind of technical condition of the helicopter was
checked? Aviation analyst Kyle Bailey told Al Jazeera the lack of
communication from the helicopter pilot or another flight crew member likely
means the crash was due to a “serious controllability issue”. Point to be noted:
according to reports published on bne INTELLINEWS on May 19 ,2024 state that
“the helicopter in question was carrying the Iranian President. It has been
identified as a Bell 214 helicopter.”But later “State news
agency IRNA said Raisi was flying in a U.S.-made Bell 212 helicopter.” Such shifting the name
of the crashed helicopter’s model from Bell 214 to Bell 212 raises the
suspicion that how careful were the authorities on President Raisi’s aviation
protocol who did not have a proper idea of which helicopter was being used for
the president?
According to Nour News, the
helicopter accident was primarily caused by the unpredictable spring weather
and cloud masses in a mountainous area, which could have caused turbulence and
atmospheric instability. So, the question arises: if
the flight crew were among the most skilled helicopter pilots in the country,
with high military ranks, experience, and expertise (as claimed), then why did
those pilots fail to tackle that weather whereas rest of the two choppers of
the convoy landed safely? The media and authorities mentioned only the
passengers of the destroyed helicopter, but there should be a clear and
detailed report on the identities of the rest of the passengers who were
onboard the other two helicopters. Besides, which models of
helicopters were used for them? (If Mr. President rode on such a Vietnam War
era’s helicopter, then they might be using the helicopters of WWI!) should also
be mentioned.
Suspicious and Conflictual
Information
There are still a lot of
enigmas in the contradictory statements of the authorities on the crash of
Raisi’s helicopter issue. Here are some examples:
Fars News, close to the
Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), initially denied an incident involving
three helicopters carrying President Raisi and his entourage, claiming an
emergency landing due to heavy fog in East Azerbaijan. Later, it reported a
"hard landing" on one of the helicopters, and then the rest is
history!
Initially the official
said, “Three helicopters left Tabriz but, half an hour later, two of them lost
contact with the one carrying the president,” But with time, speeches
show different directions. Iran’s Deputy
President for Executive Affairs, Mohsen Mansouri, told the state IRIB TV that one
of the passengers and one of the crew members from the wrecked helicopter
communicated with the rescue team. It means the air was not as severe as
assumed earlier, he added. But “Hossein Hatami, the MP
for Kaleybar, has said there has been no contact with anyone aboard the
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's helicopter, which is currently unreachable,
local agencies reported late on May 19. …. There is no information about all
the passengers on the helicopter, and no mobile signal has been received from
them. No contact has been made with anyone on board, and they are unreachable,
including the protection team.” So it means, no one from the wrecked
helicopter was able to communicate with anyone until it was totally collapsed, but
one was able to contact the rescue team after that helicopter turned into full
debris! How strange! In addition, previously stating that the convoy of
helicopters left Tabriz but later knowing that Raisi’s helicopter crashed
before reaching Tabriz makes it clear that this incident is full of false
information.
There
is also a debate going on about who rescued the wreckage site first. “The
Iranian Red Crescent Society announced early Monday that they had found the
location of the wreckage of President Ebrahim Raisi's helicopter after it was
detected by a Turkish Akinci unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Speaking to local
media, the head of the Iranian Red Crescent, Pir Hossein Kolivand, said that
two kilometers are left to reach the area where the wreckage is located.” But later Iran officials, including
Red Crescent head Pir-Hossein Kolivand and IRGC Commander Asghar Abbasgholi,
claim Turkish drone's coordinates were incorrect and Iranian forces discovered
the crash site. According to Iran Radio report, “five o'clock in the morning
when the correct coordinates were finally found with Iranian equipment and
Iranian relief forces.” On
the other hand, in a video, a voice is heard stating that motorcyclists found
the site first. Therefore, an article published on Iran International Newsroom
gave credit to the local motorcyclists for playing a crucial
role in locating the wreckage. Mentionable: “Three rescue workers
searching for the crashed helicopter were reported missing by the Red Crescent
but were later accounted for.” In such a hostile environment where
Iranian forces and Red Crescent's rescue workers failed to locate the site
first and were not able to smoothly continue the search operation for Raisi and
his companions, those local motorcyclists dared to do it and had such strength!
Their names and bios should be revealed to the world as an inspiration!
Source: Rescue team members works
following at the scene. of a crash of the helicopter carrying Iran's President
Ebrahim Raisi, in Varzaqan, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran, May 20. via WANA https://www.iranintl.com/en/202405215698
Even
there is a mismatched report on the condition of recovered bodies! “In an
interview that appeared on social media, these locals described the wreckage as
"completely exploded and everything was burned.” Iran's Crisis Management
Organization head Mohammad Hassan Nami stating that all passengers were burnt
but still identifiable. On the other hand, IRGC Commander Asghar Abbasgholi
stated that President Raisi's body was not burnt.
These
kinds of contrasting statements create more doubt about whether it is an
accident or a space assassination.
Overall
Reactions
“Mohsen
Sazegara, a former Iranian deputy prime minister and a founding member of IRGC,
has since disclosed crucial information to Iran International. According to
Sazegara's intelligence from his sources inside the IRGC, a series of events
unfolded during the incident, further complicating matters. …Sazegara revealed
that the standard protocol for such missions involves three helicopters: one
called the leader in the front, another for high-ranking officials in the
middle, and a third for support in the back. However, in a last-minute twist,
the official's helicopter was swapped with the leader's, deviating from the
established procedure”This disclosure of information from a
founding member of the IRGC is a sign of a lack of unity among IRGC members.
There
was scope to grow an intimate relationship between Türkiye and Iran after the
Turkish drone Akinci transmitted the image of the wrecked helicopter at 3:06
a.m. Iranian time and shared the coordinates with the Iranian authorities, but
the passion for earning credits made it bitter… “Pirhossein Kolivand, the head of the Iranian
Red Crescent Society, called foreign participation in the search a rumor.” But “Iran's military said it had
chosen Turkey among "friendly countries" to help in the rescue
mission due to its proximity to the accident site in the northwest of the
country.”“Iran's Armed Forces said they were
not able to immediately deploy their own advanced drones, equipped with
synthetic-aperture radar, as they were located in the northern part of the
Indian Ocean at the time.” Later “according to Iranian
media accounts, an Iranian drone belonging to the Quds Force of the Islamic
Revolutionary Guards Corps found the remains of the helicopter at around 5:30
a.m. local time.” So, the question is, if the IRGC had their own drone,
then why did Iran ask for Türkiye’s help? This indicates a gap exists between
the IRGC and Iran’s military, where the Red Crescent Society is on the side of
the IRGC. Anyway,
“Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to visit Iran on May
22 to attend the funeral of Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, who was recently
killed in a helicopter crash.” But
later the Turkish government’s Directorate of Communications Center for
Countering Disinformation dismissed these reports, stating that Erdogan has no
plans to visit Iran in the near future. President
Erdogan, who visited the United States to attend boxing legend Muhammad Ali’s
funeral in 2016, did not go to the neighboring country to attend the funeral of
President Raisi. It seems like an icy relationship has been created between the
two countries due to that wreckage discovery issue. Whatever, it was not the
fault of President Raisi, so President Erdogan could skip this debate for the
sake of the occasion and join there…
Critics
and analysts of President Raisi’s helicopter crash are divided into three
groups:
The
first group focuses on the weather as the cause of the accident.
The
second group is condemning the use of old-model helicopter.
The
third group is assuming that it is sabotage or assassination.
Is
It a Space Assassination?
Dr. Iain Boyd, director
of the Center for National Security Initiatives in Colorado, states that a
laser weapon capable of downing a helicopter from space does not exist, as it
would be too large to conceal. A weapon larger than the International Space Station
would be required to critically damage a vehicle flying close to the ground
from space, he added.
Well, Dr. Boyd has dismissed
the possibility of laser attack from the space, but that doesn’t mean that the
possibility of using low-power laser weapon, drone/UAV attack or ground-based
laser attack etc. is nil. (To
know about laser weapons, see: Applications of Laser Technology in the Army by Lyubomir
Lazov*, Edmunds Teirumnieks, Risham Singh Ghalot, Faculty of Engineering,
Rezekne Academy of Technologies, Atbrīvošanas Aleja 115, Rezekne, LV-4601, Latvia,
published on Journal of Defense Management, May 2021)
Military
laser communication: illustration of spatial diversity. ( Source:
Applications of Laser Technology in the Army by Lyubomir Lazov*, Edmunds
Teirumnieks, Risham Singh Ghalot)
The area where president
Raisi’s helicopter collapsed, was a hostile place for Raisi.
Because, the incident happened close to Azerbijan border where “the visit came
despite chilly relations between the two nations, including over a gun attack
on Azerbaijan's Embassy in Tehran in 2023, and Azerbaijan's diplomatic
relations with Israel, which Iran's Shia theocracy views as its main enemy
in the region.” In addition, the crash site is
near to Tabriz, one of the places where many Iranian Baháʼís live. “Ali Rehyani Kucuvar, a well-known
South Azerbaijani businessman and owner of the "Sonmez" factory, was
arrested and transferred to Tabriz prison, along with several other relatives. According to his lawyer, the
businessman was charged with "propaganda against the government" and
"insulting Ebrahim Raisi.” So,
the think tanks or policy makers who often try to find out a link between
Islamic terrorist groups and mishaps/violences, should not ignore this fact
too.
Who Are Benefitted from
the Death of Raisi?
If we analyze the news
worldwide regarding Raisi’s chopper crash, we find that many media reports are
softly trying to indicate that Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of 85-year-old Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is the most benefitted person from the demise of
President Raisi.“Analysts compared the lack of warmth in Khamenei’s tone while
talking about Raisi as opposed to a similar situation in 2020 when he was
filmed crying over the death of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
Quds Force Qasem Soleimani, who was killed on the order of then-US President
Donald Trump.”[25]But
those analysts might have forgotten to notice the differences between the two
circumstances. When Khamenei gave his speech on Soleimani, he was confirmed
that the major general is no more, and he was sure about the reason behind it.
On the other hand, in the case of Raisi, he does not know (at least officially)
what is actually going on.
Iran will not start a war
but would “respond strongly” to anyone who tried to bully it, President Ebrahim
Raisi said on Friday, a day after the U.S. said it was planning attacks on
Iranian sites in Iraq and Syria. This statement by
then-Iran President Raisi shows the enmity between him and the U.S. Similarly,
“Mr Abdollahian, 60, has been Iran’s foreign minister since 2021 and is known
for his support of the Iran-backed “Axis of Resistance” against Israel and the
US.”
Therefore, we can keep the U.S. and Israel on the beneficiary list too!
No doubt, the happiest
group for this vacuum in the cleric system is the supporters of Masha Amini,
who died for “unsuitable attire (mentioned by Tehran’s morality police)”.
Faezeh Hashemi, a former lawmaker and women’s
rights advocate whose father, late Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani,
was one of the founding fathers of the clerical establishment, was arrested on
September 27, 2022 for supporting “Woman, Life, Freedom” protest movement in
2022.
Point to be noted, in
2016, she came under attack by hard-liners for meeting with a leader of Iran’s
long-persecuted Baha’i community with whom she used to share a cell in Tehran’s
notorious Evin prison. So definitely, it is a
great opportunity for her to bloom her vision!
The oppression of women in Iran had
been endured by the Baha’i community “for many many years”, Omid
Djalili, a British-Iranian comedian who is a Baha’i, told
The Telegraph…. Mrs
Mahmoudi says her family had a “nice and easy life” before the 1979 revolution,
which brought the clerical establishment into power….Since
September 2022, when Mahsa
Amini died in custody after being arrested for allegedly violating hijab rules and the subsequent nationwide
protests, the Iranian government has ramped up its crackdown on the Baha’i
community. Therefore,
Baha’i community is now on the front
line as a gainer after the death of President Raisi.
Opponents celebrated Raisi's death as “good news”. On Persian social media, there were many
jokes and sarcastic comments as well as photographs of protesters who were
killed or maimed two years ago. There were also videos showing fireworks being
set off in several locations in Iran's capital, Tehran.
It is not a rocket science to understand who
are benefitted from the tragic crash of this group of hard liners.
Mystery of Iran-U.S.
Relation
State Department
spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters that the Iranian government asked
Washington for assistance after the helicopter crash that killed Iranian
President Ebrahim Raisi and other officials, but it was unable to provide it
due to "logistical reasons”.
On the other hand,
Uraloglu said Iranian authorities contacted them for help but did not initially
mention that the issue concerned Raisi.
Despite the U.S. sanctions against Iran, how could the Iranian government seek
help from the U.S. by sharing the full story, whereas friendly Turkey was not
informed about the main reason?Why did not Iran ask Russia to help?
Though Iran and the U.S.
are at daggers drawn, still using such U.S.-built helicopters sounds surprising. This
aircraft, purchased by Iran in the early 2000s… The state-run IRNA
news agency has confirmed these details. How could this
purchase be possible when, since 1979, the U.S. and Iran have been rough and
tough on each other?
Why did not Iran buy helicopters from “Russia,
now one of Iran’s closest allies”
? Umm…After the death of President Raisi,
Iran has purchased 15 helicopters from Russia,
which could be a sarcastic answer to this question!
Iran and the U.S.
had a secret talk in Muscat less than a week before Raisi’s death. Brett
McGurk, US President Joe Biden's senior Middle East adviser, held indirect negotiations
with Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s point man for negotiations with the West (was a
deputy foreign minister and now the acting foreign minister), according to
three Iranian sources close to the talks. It is the same place which hosted
secret meetings between Tehran and Washington a decade ago that led to the 2015
JCPOA (joint comprehensive plan of action) nuclear agreement.
One source close to the
talks, which were first reported by Axios on Friday, told Middle
East Eye that discussions between Bagheri Kani and McGurk were progressing
well and were close to reaching some sort of agreement.
Secret
talks suddenly disclosed to the public creates an enigma. Are both countries
trying to convince people that the U.S. has not ‘that bad’ intention for Iran
or does the U.S. want to send a signal that the ‘arrogant attitude’ will not be
tolerated? Or is there any third party who did not like this progressive
relation between Iran and the U.S.? Whatever, at least now it is relatively clear
that the U.S. has hate for the true hard
liners like Ebrahim Raisi ,
Hossein
Amir Abdollahian only, and not having phobia on other Iranians.
Conclusion
President Ebrahim Raisi (Presidential
term: August 5, 2021–May 19, 2024) was not educated from Glasgow Caledonian University
as like as former President Hassan Rouhani (Presidential term: August 3, 2013–August
3, 2021), but he had the courage to stay strict on what he believed. He had
five years of clerical study, which was titled “poorly educated” by his opponents. But his critics
might forget that the education that teaches that the ape is the ancestor of
the human is not mandatory to be a member of the judiciary or to be a
successful leader. And history teaches us that the strictness of moral values
in leadership often leads to political murder. President Ebrahim Raisi was
surrounded by enemies both nationally and internationally. People who
criticized Ebrahim Raisi for his role in the Masha Amini issue are now silent
on the ‘anti hijabi’ role of the Tajikistan's government. The country has passed a law banning the
hijab, the latest in a string of 35 wide-ranging religion-related acts, in a
move described by the government as "protecting national cultural
values" and "preventing superstition and extremism".[2] No humanitarians are giving lectures
against this law or taking the side of those Muslims in Tajikistan who want to
wear hijab! And interestingly, OIC, our Muslim world is still silent on this! Don’t
forget my dear Muslim brothers and sisters what Allah Says:
Those who disbelieve are
the friends and protectors of one another. If you do not act in this way there
will be turmoil in the land and great corruption. (Al-Qur’an 8:73)
The crash of the President Raisi’s helicopter
and its rescue process proves the actual capability of Iran. The country which can’t
provide a good helicopter to its President, was seeking help from other countries
to rescue, then how could it supply drones to others? How could
their Uranium project be a threat to the world?
Just a few days before the
presidential election in Iran, a sudden announcement from Canada that it has
listed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization[3] may incite fear among those who
support the hardliners. The death of President Raisi has not only created a
vacuum in Iran’s clerical system but has also brought an opportunity for the
opponents’ parties, feminist groups, supporters of Masha Amini, the Baha'i
community, and little relief for the US and Israel. Opponents have got the
chance to pointing fingers at the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But
if Khamenei had the intention of replacing his son in Raisi’s place, then he
would never give that stair to Raisi.
Only Allah know what actually
happened with the president and his companions, but such mismatched
information, the president's sudden schedule change, the bodyguard's cliché
appearance at the funeral, the safe landing of two helicopters, secret talks
before the death of the president, a lack of unity in government agencies, etc.
indicate the possibility of assassination rather than accident. If so, then the
death of President Raisi and his entourages is the first space assassination in
current history. In that case, for a safe future, scientists and policymakers
should re-think about these laser technologies, space weapons, drone culture,
etc. The fact is, if it really is related with the space science,then it could be a boomerang for the users of it. To get a bird’s-eye view of the whole earth, space science might be
helpful, but if that science turns into assassinations, wars, the breaking of
human privacy, global warming, environmental pollution, then it will be more
horribly destructive. The effect of the war on the land surface is limited, but
the space war covers the entire globe—easy vision, easy chaotic mission.
In the Al -Qur’an Allah Say, وَلَا تُفْسِدُوا
فِي الْأَرْضِ بَعْدَ إِصْلَاحِهَا
(Surah Al-A’raf , Ayat 56)
( Muhammad Habib Shakir: And do not make mischief in the
earth after its reformation
Amatul Rahmân Omer: And
do not create disorder in the land after the fair ordering thereof)
M.Pickthall: Work
not confusion in the earth after the fair ordering (thereof).)
“'Salah' means the state of being
good, correct, right, proper or set in order as in the translation. Then, Fasad
refers to the state of evil, corruption, mischief,” confusion, “disorder. Imam
Raghib al-Isfahan has said in his Mufradat al-Qur'an that Fasad refers to
something going beyond the limits of moderation, whether this crossing over is
insignificant or enormous, and the measure of an increase or decrease in every
Fasad depends on this crossing of the limits of moderation. The farther the
limits are crossed, Fasad will increase. Fasad means to make things bad and
Islah means to correct, reform or put into order.”
So, one of the most important
messages from the death of the President Raisi we have got, that instead of
being self-oriented only, it’s high time to think globally to save mankind. May
technology not turns into Fasad!
Copyright ©️Rumana Reza , 2024
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