BREAKING:'No sign of life' detected at crash site of helicopter carrying President Ebrahim Raisi, others, Iran state TV says https://t.co/Xb5LLyJdwY
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 20, 2024
There is much being said (threatened) from all sides, but here’s the base facts, AFAICT: A selection of Iran’s top officials were returning via helicopter from a ‘dam commemoration’ in Azerbaijan. Helicopters are notoriously not the safest flying machines — especially pre-1979-built helicopters running on spare parts, and flying over some of the nastiest mountainous terrain in the world. One of the three helicopters in the entourage went down, with or without outside interference, and some of the men in that downed helicopter… Well, their legacies are currently being disputed.
There will be more news. There will be developments. I am not sufficiently expert on Iran and its neighbors to place any bets on what comes next, and as far as I know very few other American-accessible social media users are, either. None of which, obviously, will shut any of us up…
I blame the vaccine. #DiedSuddenly https://t.co/bPkRoVtmc0
— Ragnarok Lobster 🐺 (@eclecticbrotha) May 20, 2024
#BREAKING Hamas and Hezbollah mourn death of Iran's Raisi.
Hamas hailed his 'support for Palestinian resistance' and Hezbollah called Raisi a 'protector of resistance movements' pic.twitter.com/m4tUK6SJkS
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) May 20, 2024
Foreign Affairs Open Thread: Succession Shake-Up in IranPost + Comments (24)