This content was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi died in a plane crash in May, according to the general staff of the Persian Armed Forces, which was blamed on climate and the weight of the aircraft.
Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency reported on August 21 that the , research into the plane crash , had been “fully completed by the regulation and security establishments”.
Fars quoted an unidentified security origin who was in charge of the final analysis as saying it was “absolute certainty that what happened was an accident.” The surveillance and protection institutions “did not recognize a cautious factor” in their last assessments, Fars reported.
The source added that the accident was caused by the pilot’s inability to handle the pounds of additional passengers, which was in excess of safety protocols.
The helicopter crashed while it was carrying two passengers, the Fars review claimed.
But after the Fars statement, the General Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces” highly rejected” the noted results, saying in a speech carried by state media that it was “distorted and discredited”.
The helicopter’s headquarters alleged “fundamentally misleading” claims that it could hold more people than it could hold.
The Bell 212 aircraft had a power of 15, including one captain, according to the company. When the plane crashed on May 19 in big cloud while crossing a hilly and forested area, Raisi and seven people were killed.
According to earlier studies, it has been difficult for Iran to get parts due to international restrictions. Before the Egyptian Revolution of 1979, Iran purchased the Bell 212 from the United States.
Iran elected a new president, liberal Masud Pezeshkian, in June and on August 21 the government’s hard-line parliament , approved his 19-member Cabinet, accepting the full slate of officials without a shift for the first time since 2001.
