Turkish newspaper Turkiye highlighted peculiar circumstances surrounding the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.
Firstly, it's puzzling why high-ranking Iranian officials opted for an American-made Bell-212 helicopter instead of the planned Russian Mi-171 helicopter.
Russian helicopters are typically maintained by Russian specialists, whereas American-made helicopters have not been serviced by Americans in Iran for quite some time.
Secondly, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members typically pilot the "presidential helicopter".
This time, however, Iranian army pilots Colonel Sayed Taher Mostafavi, Colonel Mohsen Daryanush, and technician Major Behrouz Gadi, were at the helm.
Thirdly, there's confusion as to why no signals were recorded after the crash despite the helicopter being equipped with three tracking systems. The absence of signals suggests the systems were either disabled, missing, or malfunctioning, possibly due to the impact, explosion, and subsequent fire.
Lastly, there's suspicion surrounding the sudden addition of two passengers to "helicopter No. 2," meant to carry President Raisi, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, and others. The last-minute addition of Mohammad Ali Ale Hashem and General Mehdi Mousavi raises questions about the changed passenger list.
