The former foreign minister of Iran is attributing the helicopter crash that claimed Iranian President Raisi’s life partly to US sanctions. In an interview, Mohammad Javad Zarif mentioned that the crash killing Raisi would be “recorded in the black list of American crimes against the Iranian nation.”
Raisi, 63, and other senior officials were killed when their helicopter made a “hard landing” in northwest Iran, according to Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi. State TV reported that the helicopter crashed into a mountain. Although no official cause has been stated, images from ISNA, Iran's state students' news agency, showed heavy fog at the crash site.
Multiple sources, including Reuters, identified the helicopter as a US-manufactured Bell 212, which was first introduced in 1968 and discontinued in 1998.
Iran's former foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, suggested that US sanctions, which prevent Iran from purchasing US-built aircraft, could be partly responsible. In a phone interview with state TV on Monday, Zarif stated that the sanctions hinder Iran from maintaining good aviation facilities.
The US has imposed various sanctions on Iran since the 1979 seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran. Economic sanctions, including those affecting the aviation industry, were reinstated in 2018 after the US withdrew from the nuclear deal.
According to US think tank the Washington Institute, Iranian airlines are prohibited from purchasing aircraft that contain more than 10% US parts. This restriction complicates the process of updating or repairing US-manufactured aircraft bought before the sanctions.
Bloomberg reports that Iranian airlines operate some of the world's oldest aircraft, with an estimated average fleet age of over 25 years. The Bell 212 helicopter, according to US military training documents cited by Reuters, was developed for the Canadian military in the late 1960s and first used by Canada and the US in 1971.
There have been multiple crashes involving Bell 212 helicopters over the years. In 2009, a Bell 212 operated by Cougar Helicopters crashed off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, killing 17 of the 18 people on board due to an emergency landing after losing oil pressure in one engine.
