United States Says that Iran had asked for help in the investigation following the presidential helicopter crashed on Sunday, with Washington condoling Ibrahim Raisi’s death, saying he had ‘blood on his hands’.
According to the French news agency AFP, the US State Department says that Iran on Sunday, Ibrahim Raisi’s old Helicopter Contacted following crashing in the fog. Iran has had no diplomatic relations with Washington since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters on Monday that ‘the Iranian government asked for our assistance.’
He said: ‘We said we were ready to help – we would for any government in that situation. Ultimately, due to logistical reasons, we might not provide this assistance.’
He declined to elaborate on how the two countries contacted each other, but hinted that Iran Ibrahim Raisi was seeking urgent help to find the helicopter that killed him, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdullahian and seven others.
The incident comes as the United States and Iran recently held talks in Oman, reportedly aimed at promoting stability following clashes between Tehran and Israel.
The US State Department has expressed ‘official condolences’ over these deaths in a statement.
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“As Iran elects a new president, we reiterate our support for the Iranian people, their struggle for human rights and fundamental freedoms,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that he was a man with a lot of blood on his hands.
He said Raisi was responsible for the ‘cruel’ abuses.
However, John Kirby said that ‘as with any other case, we regret the loss of life and offer our official condolences.’
The United States has sometimes, if not often, offered condolence to its opposition leaders, including Joseph Stalin, Kim Il Sung and Fidel Castro. However, similar words from European countries along with the condolence message have angered some of Iran’s opponents, who saw Raisi’s death as a cause for celebration.
Masih Alinejad, a women’s rights activist who US investigators say was the target of an assassination attempt by Tehran in New York, wrote on X: ‘Your condolences to the victims. Just sprinkles salt on the wounds.’
Iraqi citizens light flowers and candles outside the Iranian embassy in Baghdad on May 20, 2024 for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who died along with his colleagues in a helicopter crash on May 19 (Ahmed al-Rabi/AFP) )
‘There will be no impact on security’
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has indicated that US forces have not changed their position following the accident in Iran.
Lloyd Austin told reporters: ‘I don’t think there will be any broader impact on regional security.’
He denied any American role and said there was no reason to think it was anything other than an accident.
“America had no role in this accident,” Lloyd Austin said. It is a fact, plain and simple.’
“It might be a number of things, including technical failure, pilot error, whatever you call it,” he said.
The Iranian army has ordered an investigation into the incident. It has often blamed Israel and the United States for security incidents in the past, which have targeted Iranian targets in recent years.
Former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blamed the crash on US sanctions, which have affected sales of aviation parts.
Asked regarding Javad Zarif’s statement, Matthew Miller said: ‘It is the Iranian government that is responsible for the decision to fly a 45-year-old helicopter in bad weather, not anyone else.’
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2024-07-06 13:58:16