Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s foreign minister and others have been found dead at the site of a helicopter crash Monday after an hourslong search through a foggy, mountainous region of the country’s northwest, state media reported. Raisi was 63. The crash comes as the Middle East remains unsettled by the Israel-Hamas war, during which Raisi under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel just last month.
What’s the likelihood that this was an Israeli assassination?
That’s what my first thoughts were as well, but they were flying in some pretty nasty weather. Thick fog, high winds, in a remote forested mountain range. While it is entirely possible that the CIA and IDF may have collaborated on some impromptu helicopter modifications, I think the question is less “Who could have done this?” and is more “Why were they flying in those conditions?”
True, the weather was really bad in that area, but he was traveling in a 3-helicopter convoy, and only his helicopter crashed. Now, I’m not saying that it’s impossible, or even improbable that it was an accident, but we can’t really rule out sabotage at this point, especially considering how big of a target he had on his head from both the US and Israel. Personally, I really hope it was an accident. I mean, I shed no tears for that son of a bitch, but the ramifications if this was an assassination are unsettling.
We can’t rule it out, but Occam’s razor says we should think of it as an accident right up until the moment where we find evidence for sabotage and an accident isn’t enough anymore to explain it.
The parallels with Kobe’s death are pretty eerie
Definitely!
Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi won five NBA championships and was an 18-time All-Star, a 15-time member of the All-NBA Team, a 12-time member of the All-Defensive Team, the 2008 NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP), and a two-time NBA Finals MVP.
This is the first time since joining Lemmy that I miss awards. This was funny as hell! Thanks for the chuckle.
Kobe wasn’t involved in an almost sort of war with Israel though.
He was still young.
They would have won even more championships if Shaq hadn’t insisted on eating non-halal meat during team meetings. You could cut the tension with a knife.
I’m not going to dispute your clearly superior knowledge of basketball statistics, and those are all remarkable parallels, but I think it’s more likely they were referring to the helicopter crash.
Bunch of old dudes dying while using a notoriously risky mode of transportation in bad weather over tricky terrain, while the only thing pointing to Israel thus far is motive. I’d say low.
…while flying in a helicopter introduced in 1968 and last manufactured in 1998 in a country that is sanctioned and most likely can’t reliably get spare parts for it.
Low. Unless they control the weather.
Was it them that made the frogs gay?
I think he’s saying they would have to make fogs gray
Wellllll…I have it on unreliable authority that Israel has a space laser, so weather control probably isn’t out of the question…
Let me introduce you to the “Jewish space lasers” theory of Marjorie Taylor Green.
Unlikely, since helicopters are pretty dangerous (especially cold war era ones), have a single point of failure, and the accident apparently happened in bad conditions and in a mountainous region.
Also the Iranian president is more of a state figurehead than an actual ruler with the power to change the country. The Ayatollah is the one pulling the strings.
Don’t even think Iran are going to blame this on Israel, as they would get clapped in a direct confrontation with the IDF, and they know it.
They probably suspect Israel did it, but since they fired close to 400 missiles and drones into Israel and hit nothing, and Israel fired one back and took out their air defence radar, they’ll probably stick to arming Hamas in order to hurt Israel.
Very little point in a direct conflict.
Suspicious bald helicopter maintenance man seen prior to takeoff.
And nobody noticed the barcode.
If someone wants to cosplay as store merchandise, that’s none of my business!
about as likely as internal power struggles, or some other actor who wants to maybe stir up shit in the middle east. (wouldn’t put it past the russians, to be honest. they’d benefit from israel going to war and people forgetting about Ukraine.)
not as likely as mechanical failure or shitty weather.
Very low probability. You don’t target head of country, that’s very ungentlemanly in diplomatic world which can result in very severe repercussion.
When did Israel act gentlemanly?
I don’t think I have to bold the word ‘diplomatic’ for you to understand the context.
Was it diplomatic to attack an embassy in another country?
that’s a deliberate geopolitical move to gain direct involvement of the US into the conflict by inciting retaliation from Iran. So they were expecting the repercussion.
It is a dick move but not as severe as attacking the head of the country. Just imagine during the WW2 the Allied assassinate the Japanese Emperor. It was a no go.
Man, If you hate someone, find a rational reasons for them to be hated. Not every wrongs can be linked to them. Use your head, not emotion.
Unlikely given the weather, but not zero.
Your prejudice is showing. It’s actually YOUR country that goes around the world assassinating people in their own lands. But you guys like to throw the ball at someone else and pretend you’re righteous. It’s more likely to be you guys.
Oh I don’t live in the US.
Extremely likely. These people getting upvoted by Israel’s media farms below literally don’t take into account the reach of Israel’s special ops.
E: How much are you guys getting paid to be shills and spread misinformation? Keep burying facts in downvotes if that makes you feel better, but you’re all terrible human beings for it.
Wouldn’t they blow it up? Seems like that’s their usual choice, since it makes a statement, not subtle sabotage.
Haven’t you heard of Israel’s secret operations? Look up the Mossad’s history with things such as these:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/feb/16/mossad-operations-false-passports
(Detailed Report Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER Factual Reporting: MIXED Country: United Kingdom Press Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE Media Type: Newspaper Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY)
https://archive.org/details/mossadgreatopera0000barz
(Detailed Report Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL Country: USA MBFC’s Country Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE Media Type: Organization/Foundation Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY)
https://www.history.com/news/adolf-eichmann-nazi-capture-holocaust-trial-mossad
(Detailed Report Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED Factual Reporting: HIGH Country: United Kingdom MBFC’s Country Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE Media Type: Magazine Traffic/Popularity: Medium Traffic MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY)
Full of undercover and sneaky operations. Not your typical “explosion”. That’s a narrative they try to spread to divert attention from their sneakier exploits.