A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and senior regime officials crashed in northern Iran on Sunday, raising speculations whether the person known as “the Butcher of Tehran” survived the accident.
“A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s foreign minister and other officials apparently crashed in the mountainous northwest reaches of Iran on Sunday,” the Associated Press reported.
“Raisi was traveling in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. State TV said what it called a “hard landing” happened near Jolfa, a city on the border with the nation of Azerbaijan, some 600 kilometers (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran,” AP added.
Israeli TV channel i24NEWS cites Iranian reports saying “that there could be causalities among those who were onboard.”
News reports suggest that the rescuers have located the crash site. “The helicopter that crashed has been found by search teams, Iranian state TV reported. There is no update yet on the condition of those onboard,” the British newspaper Guardian reported.
The crash took place at a crucial time when Iran is reportedly weeks away from acquiring a nuclear bomb. Tehran opened direct hostilities with Israel on April 13 by launching hundreds of drones and missiles towards the country, almost all of them intercepted by Israel, the U.S. and other Western allies.
The Reuters reported:
A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister crashed on Sunday as it was crossing mountain terrain in heavy fog, an Iranian official told Reuters, and rescuers were struggling to reach the site of the incident.The official said the lives of Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were “at risk following the helicopter crash”, which happened on the way back from a visit to the border with Azerbaijan in Iran’s northwest.”We are still hopeful but information coming from the crash site is very concerning,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who holds ultimate power in the Islamic Republic, sought to reassure Iranians, saying there would be no disruption to state affairs.Iranian state media said bad weather was the cause of the crash and was complicating rescue efforts. The chief of staff of Iran’s army ordered all the resources of the army and the elite Revolutionary Guard to be put to use in search and rescue operations.
There were reports of celebrations among Iranians following the news of the crash.
Israeli War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz has threatened to bring down Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government if a comprehensive plan for Gaza is not presented by June 8.
Gantz issued an ultimatum on Saturday night warning that his eight-member National Unity Party, “we will withdraw from the government, turn to the people, and form a government that can bring about a real victory.”
Media reports suggest that Gantz is Biden White House’s favourite candidate to replace Netanyahu.
In early March “Joe Biden’s White House (…) treated a visiting foreign cabinet minister [Gantz] as though he were head of government,” the UK newspaper Financial Times reported. “Praying that Benny Gantz will replace Benjamin Netanyahu as the country’s next prime minister is now the US president’s unofficial policy.”
The Biden White House and leading Democrats is furious with Israel’s current war effort against Hamas in Gaza under Netanyahu’s leadership. In mid-march, Biden backed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer call for new elections in Israel.
Gantz’s departure from the national unity government, created in the wake of the October 7 massacre, will not bring down the ruling coalition. Netanyahu will still hold the majority in the Knesset thanks to the right-wing alliance he came to office with.
If Gantz pulls out of the government, “Netanyahu would be returned to the 64-member right, far-right and ultra-Orthodox bloc with which he won the November 2022 election,” the Times of Israel noted. Gantz “does not currently have the Knesset numbers to bring that coalition down,” the news website added.
The Israeli news website Ynet reported Gantz’s ultimatum:
National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz issued an ultimatum to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Saturday evening, stating that his party will leave the government if the Cabinet does not approve a comprehensive war strategy by June 8.”It is my duty to tell the public the truth after repeatedly stating it behind closed doors – personal and political considerations have started to infiltrate the holy of holies of Israel’s security, and a small minority has taken control of the command bridge,” Gantz said at a press conference.”In order for us to fight shoulder to shoulder, the War Cabinet must formulate a comprehensive plan with six objectives: returning our captives, dismantling Hamas and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip, establishing a governmental alternative, returning northern residents by September 1, advancing normalization and adopting an Israeli [military] service framework.” (…)Netanyahu answered Gantz’s statement, “He should pose ultimatums to Hamas, his words are thrown around,” to which Gantz retorted by saying, “If his war cabinet is important to him, he needs to take decisions and not drag his feet, fearing the extremists.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Saturday eliminated Hamas’s top weapons smuggler in an airstrike in Gaza.
The Israeli Air Force (IAF) “struck and eliminated the terrorist Azmi Abu Daqqa, an operative in Hamas’ Procurement Department who was actively involved in the smuggling of weapons and terror funds in the Gaza Strip,” the IDF said in a press release Sunday.
Over the past day, the IAF struck dozens of terror targets, including two tactical-level Hamas commanders who were preparing to attack IDF troops in the Rafah area,” the statement added.
The strike comes an Israeli military moves to destroy tunnels running between Gaza and Egypt, a main route for weapons supply to Hamas.
The IDF began its Rafah offensive on May 6 by capturing the strategic Philadelphi Route separating Gaza from Egypt. The military has since identified nearly 50 tunnels running between Gaza and Egypt. “These tunnels are used by Hamas to supply itself with weapons and ammunition and could potentially be used to smuggle out of Gaza hostages, or Hamas senior operators,” the senior Israeli official disclosed Friday.
Meanwhile, there are reports of IDF continuing its counter-terrorism operation in Rafah and rest of Gaza. “The soldiers of the 7th Brigade combat team are operating and engaging in combat with terrorists in the area of Jabaliya,” the IDF said in a statement on Sunday. “The soldiers of Unit 636 and the Fire Control Center of the 7th Brigade are operating to identify armed terrorist cells and direct strikes to eliminate them, and conducting dozens of strikes to assist the forces operating on the ground.”
The Israeli ground troops were locating and destroying Hamas’ weapons cache and its terrorist capabilities. The soldiers have located large quantities of weapons, including explosives, anti-tank missiles, AK-47s, drones and grenades,” the military added. “As part of operations to harm Hamas’ launch capabilities, the forces located rocket launchers and a weapons production workshop.”
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