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First, my sincerest condolences and deeply felt sorrow to Ayatollah Khamenei and the people of Iran, for the death of President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and other political personalities killed in a helicopter “accident” on 19 May 2024.

Both President Raisi and Foreign Minister Amirabdollahian were strong supporters and committed defenders of Palestine and of Palestinian rights.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei, immediately appointed Mr. Mohammad Mokhber, Iran’s first Vice-President, as Acting President until new elections, planned for end of June 2024. Mr. Mokhber follows ideologically in his boss’s footsteps. Therefore, no political change is to be expected.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has announced five days of mourning following the death of the country’s President.

Respecting Iran’s Constitution, the Supreme Leader announced new Presidential elections for 28 of June 2024.

See also this interesting interview by western Channel 4 News with an Iranian Professor (9-min video clip):

Investigations will, no doubt, reveal the truth of this helicopter disaster.

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Israel on Monday denied involvement in the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and of several Government officials of his entourage in a helicopter crash on 19 May 2024.

“It wasn’t us,” news agency Reuters quoted an Israeli official, who requested anonymity (Al Jazeera, 20 May 2024).

Very convincing, indeed.

Could it be an act of the Usual Suspects?

Maybe the Usual Suspects – plus one?

Several details point to a smelling rat – the smell of foul play.

Iranian media and many Iranian official voices call President Ebrahim Raisi’s death “martyrdom”. In Moslem parlage, this means an assassination. If it was somebody simply dying in a crash, it is just death by accident. By calling it “martyrdom”, Iranian sources have already stated that President Raisi has been killed by Iran’s enemies (Kevin Barrett). 

While the cause behind the crash is not clear yet, it is worthy to note of the ongoing Israeli invasion of Gaza and an escalation of tension between Israel and Iran just weeks ago. It started with an Israeli unprovoked attack on Iran’s diplomatic mission in Syria, to which Iran responded with a military-infrastructure destructive retaliation – causing a minimum of human harm.

Israel, the “Chosen One,” cannot allow being retaliated without further response. So, they did, but very lightly – hardly harmful – on instructions from Washington, hoping that this back-and-forth may not become a prelude to more death and bloodshed, or – God forbid – to a hot WWIII.

Of course, somebody like PM Netanyahu could not let that stand. He is also threatened with an arrest warrant from the ICC (International Criminal Court) in The Hague, which he is now fighting “diplomatically” by sending today (21 May) a mission to Paris and the EU; shall we call it to beg for help? “Begging for help” is usually not Israel’s style.

Or is it a mode of deviating attention from something much bigger, like the “presumed” assassination of President Raisi and his Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian?

PM Netanyahu and his military gang may have thought of and planned something much more devastating, not only a re-retaliation, but bringing Israel’s eternal feud with Iran onto yet another level.

Iran is and has always been a fervent defender and supporter of Palestine. They would never let Palestine be erased by Zionist-Israel. In addition, Iran is by far Israel’s strongest contender in the Zionist’s thrive towards a Greater Israel – dominating the Middle East and its hydrocarbon riches.

Besides, as a new BRICS member, Iran has become a close ally of China and Russia, both economically and militarily.

Economically, Iran plays an important role in the new BRICS-plus-five, whose priorities include dedollarizing the world’s monetary system. This does not bode well with the Western hegemon and its vassals. The Western hegemon includes Israel as a key actor; with the European puppets being useful “suicidal” idiots.

Yes, suicidal, because they are in the process of destroying themselves, following Washington’s dictate on sanctioning Russia, when cooperating with Russia and China would be an uplifting boom to Europe and a recreation of the globe’s by far largest market, the huge contiguous Continent Eurasia, reminiscent of the Ancient Silk Road, of 2,100 years ago.

Already then, this brilliant initiative was emanating from China. President Xi’s 2013 Belt and Road Initiative (also called the New Silk Road) is lending a hand to Europe for peaceful cooperation and socioeconomic development. So far, Europe, under the corrupt and unelected leadership of the European Union, has failed to accept, collaborate, and prosper. Instead, Europe obeys the dying empire’s orders to commit to their economic and social collapse.

How much longer will they remain in the dark, not ascending to the Light?

Therefore, maybe secretly with the help of the “Usual Suspects”, the Zionists in the name of Israel wanted to put a wrench in the wheels of progress. Defending the dying beast, prolonging the agony, pulling more people and societies into the Western abyss of misery.

Who are these elusive Usual Suspects? Mossad, CIA, and UK’s MI6. A potential downing of President Raisi’s Presidential Helicopter might bear the fingerprints of the infamous trio. If so, what more is to come?

Starting From the Beginning

The President of Iran took a helicopter trip to the border with Azerbaijan, where he participated in the inauguration of a new dam built by Iran; briefly also meeting the President of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ilham Aliyev. This visit may also have been an Iranian attempt to smoothen relations with Azerbeijan.

Having been part of the Persian Empire until the 19th century, Azerbaijan has deep historical ties with Iran. However, relations have not been the best, as Azerbaijan has been leaning increasingly to the West in recent years, despite her geographic and historically rather eastern political philosophy. Is this pulling away from the East, a mere voluntary sovereign action?

After the brief visit, President Raisi, his Foreign Minister, and other members of government, intended returning home. They never made it.

The Western official version goes that the Presidential Helicopter encountered strong adverse weather in the mountainous Azerbaijan – Iran region and crashed, leaving all eight chopper occupants dead.

Western media were also quick in reporting that thanks to Western sanctions, Iran was unable to import necessary parts to properly maintain her air force, that therefore the Presidential Helicopter was in bad shape.

The truth is very likely quite different.

As time goes on, new elements make the crash rather appear as a deliberate assassination. The international conspiracy – what it likely was – and the cover-up seem to have been well-prepared.

The plan was thoroughly thought out to the point – would you believe! – that ALL Weather Satellite imagery for that region on the day of the crash (19 May) was DELETED. See this.

So, there is no evidence of the much announced and repeated blizzard-like weather that downed the Presidential Helicopter.

Also, it appears that at the time of the crash, a US C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft was in the sky close to the site of the air-disaster. The C-17 is capable of rapid moves, strategic positioning and maintaining contact with major operating bases.

If this were to be indeed the case – the C-17 Globemaster plane in the sky, in theory, it would be possible that this plane could have used a Direct Energy Weapon (DEW) to down the Presidential Helicopter, right?

Furthermore, strange was the fact that the Presidential Helicopter’s emergency transponder seems to have been disabled, and so was the “mayday” emergency call function, so that no emergency signals were sent and received that could have located the chopper and come to rescue immediately.

And is it another strange coincidence that the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, also met with the President of Azerbaijan, days before Fico was shot in an assassination attempt. See this.

Again, see this, providing a run-down of the latest emerging events.

Remember the three Usual Suspects – and in this case, possibly one more. Could this one more be Azerbaijan?

Airplane “accidents” have often been used by opponents to eliminate political leaders in office. Here are some of the more prominent ones:

Panama President – Omar Torrijos died when his aircraft, a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter of the Panamanian Air Force, crashed on July 31, 1981. It was a presumed assassination.

Ecuadorian President – Jaime Roldós Aguilera, died on 24 May 1981 in a plane crash. It was an assumed assassination, enhanced by the controversial absence of the plane’s black box. President Roldós’ firm stand on Human Rights brought him poor relations with then US President Ronald Reagon, mostly due to Washington’s violent interference in Latin America. Remember Jorge Rafael Videla, Argentina’s military dictator (1976-1981), and Augusto Pinochet, Chile’s military dictator (1973-1990)? 

The second Secretary General of the UN, Dag Hammarskjöld of Sweden, whom JFK called the “greatest statesman of our century”, was killed in a plane crash on 18 September 1961. Mr. Hammarskjöld was a crucial mediator between Israel and the Arab States, as well as between China and the US. Hammarskjöld was also a force for African decolonization. It is assumed that his strong involvement in helping liberating Congo may have killed him.

Prime Minister Rashid Karami of Lebanon was killed in a helicopter which was rigged with a remote-controlled bomb on 1 June 1987. He was considered one of the most important political figures of Lebanon in the 20^th Century, as he fought for better Muslim representation in the Lebanese government, and for Palestinian causes.

Prime Minister Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan – died in a plane crash on 17 August 1988. He was a military leader, a proponent for a heavily Islam-influenced Pakistan. He also is reputed of pursuing nuclear arms for Pakistan to re-establish a power balance with India, after the Bangladesh Liberation war of 1971. He also supported the Afghan Mujahideen in the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

And the count goes on, for sure, as leaders frequently move about in planes and helicopters, exposing themselves to the risk of “accidents” and sabotage by political opponents – internal and external.

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The death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his seven companions in the helicopter flight from the Iranian border with Azerbaijan on 19 May 2024 needs to be investigated all the way to the truth. Justice must be done and further bloodshed, or worse, avoided.

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Peter Koenig is a geopolitical analyst and a former Senior Economist at the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), where he worked for over 30 years around the world. He is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed; and  co-author of Cynthia McKinney’s book “When China Sneezes: From the Coronavirus Lockdown to the Global Politico-Economic Crisis” (Clarity Press – November 1, 2020).

Peter is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG). He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Chongyang Institute of Renmin University, Beijing.

Featured image: Raisi with Ilham Aliyev at the border with Azerbaijan, hours before his death (Licensed under CC BY 4.0)