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British-Palestinian journalist Abdel Bari Atwan discussed in a May 20, 2024 interview that aired on Palestine Today TV (Palestinian Islamic Jihad) the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash. He said that Raisi "was a target for the Israelis and for the Americans," and therefore it is more plausible that his death was a result of an assassination than an accident. Atwan said that Raisi was a "brave man" for the April 14 Iranian UAV and missile attack against Israel. He proceeded to say that the United States is responsible for "this assassination" because of the sanctions that prevented Iran from buying new helicopters or spare parts for the ones it has.
Abdel Bari Atwan: "Sayyed Ebrahim Raisi was a target for the Israelis and for the Americans. Fate, natural reasons, the rugged area, fog... All this is possible, but I believe that the more plausible possibility is that this was an assassination.
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"Sayyed Raisi will go down in history as the first president in the history of Iran – and the history of many Arab and Islamic countries – who launched 365 UAVs and missiles in order to strike Israeli military bases in the Negev desert. I believe that this was a very difficult decision, but he was a courageous man, and he carried it out, and he managed to humiliate the Israeli enemy.
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"According to some opinions, the U.S. may be directly or indirectly responsible for this assassination, because of the sanctions it imposed on Iran, and because it prevented Iran from importing any helicopters or any fixed-wing aircrafts. Therefore, they bear responsibility. They also prevented spare parts from reaching Iran. The helicopter was a Bell 212, from 1968 – very old, but the U.S. has not allowed any development of this helicopter."
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