The crash site of Iran's Presidential Helicopter has finally been located. Rescuers at the scene report all aboard were killed.
The bodies of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and their accompanying delegation have been found at the helicopter crash site.
Throughout Asia, people on Social Media, are calling this an "assassination." Here are some examples:
Tsargrad:
"The assassination was “organized at the highest level.” An “excruciating death” is a signal to Russia and China. “They are killing everyone who supports Russia and China.” — sources"
Tsargrad columnist Ilya Golovnev:
"It is reported that local authorities promptly sent 8 ambulances to the site of the alleged crash. Earlier, the IRIB TV channel reported that the situation is seriously complicated by weather conditions, which prevents rescuers from reaching the scene of the incident."
Russian war correspondent Alexei Zhivov:
"Immediately after the incident, Israel was quick to deny its participation in the crash of the helicopter, on board which was Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the head of the Iranian Foreign Ministry. Earlier in the Arab media, there was a version that the crash of the helicopter was an attempted assassination of Raisi, carried out as a result of sabotage by Israeli security services in collusion with Azerbaijan, with whose leader the Iranian leader had met not long before the crash.
Azerbaijan is a latent ally of Israel. If it turns out that Raisi was killed, all this will end in a big Transcaucasian war."
The Mehr publication initially reported that Raisi was alive, but the news was hastily deleted afterward. Later, the US publication Politico wrote that the incident involving the Iranian president is “serious” and “there is a high probability of injuries.”
The Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA):
“Some unofficial sources say that some companions of the Iranian president died an agonizing death at the crash site."
At the same time, a security source in Iran believes the helicopter may have been shot down:
Blogger Sergei Kolyasnikov:
“This puts us in front of a very serious and dangerous security event. We are facing the possibility of a major assassination attempt or an actual assassination.
Political scientist Sergei Markov points out that if it is indeed a terrorist attack, Israel could be behind it. It could also be radical Sunni Islamic groups. And, of course, there is always a threat of a terrorist attack from the three main terrorist organizations in the world: ISIS*, the SBU, and the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s GUR. For all of them, Iran is an enemy.
In turn, US officials believe that Iranian President Raisi has been assassinated. Biden was informed about the situation with the helicopter. A short time later, journalist Arash Azizi published an article for The Atlantic, where he also claimed that his sources had reported the death of the Iranian president.
If so, we should remember who killed IRGC General Qassem Suleimani. And it was done by the US."
He also recalled a series of “coincidences” that have occurred recently:
On May 15, 2024, an assassination attempt on Robert Fico
On May 15, 2024, media reports about the prevention of a plot to overthrow President Recep Erdogan in Turkey
On May 16, 2024, Serbian police in the north of the country detained a man for threatening President Aleksandar Vucic
On May 19, 2024, a helicopter crash with Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi and the Foreign Minister.
And the [years-ago] assassinations of General Suleimani as well as IRGC generals during a recent Israeli strike on the Iranian Consulate General in Syria
The US and UK have opened a new chapter of terror in their history. All pro-Russian and pro-China politicians in the West should double their caution and security."
Scholar Nikolai Vavilov holds a similar opinion:
"Have they moved to the last stage - are [they] killing everyone who supports Russia and China?"
Forensics
Investigators will go over every square inch of the wreckage to determine the cause of the crash. Chemical analysis will be done to test for explosive residue. Small shards of metal will be analyzed to see if a MANPAD or missile may have hit the helicopter.
The results of those investigations will be the determining factor as to whether or not this was an accident, or a sort of Archduke Franz Ferdinand moment, that triggers what the assassination of the Archduke did; a World War.
