Ebrahim Raisi death: It wasn't us, says Israel on Iran president's chopper crash
File photos of Ebrahim Raisi (left) and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (right).
Israel on Monday (May 20) denied any involvement in the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Speaking to the news agency Reuters, an Israeli official, who chose to remain anonymous, said,"Itwasn'tus."
Raisi,Iran'sForeign MinisterHossein Amirabdollahian, and other Iranian officialswere killedin a helicopter crashin mountainous terrain near the Azerbaijan border. Raisi,a hardliner seen as a potential successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was 63 years old atthe time ofhis death.
No official response from Israel yet
The Israeli government has officially not commented onRaisi'sdeath yet. This comment by the Israeli official to Reuters comes as both countries are in a proxy war.
Click here to follow all updates on the death of Ebrahim Raisi
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In April, Iran launched hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles at Israel in response to an Israeli airstrike on an Iranian consulate in Syria that killedIranian generals and five officers. The two countries have waged ashadow war of covert operations and cyberattacks for years, but the exchange of fire in April was their first direct military confrontation, the news agency Associated Press reported.
For a long time, Israel has viewed Iran as its greatest threat because ofTehran'scontroversial nuclear program,its ballistic missiles and its support for armed groupsincludingthe Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Conspiracy circulates online overRaisi'sdeath
Following the announcement of the deaths of Raisi,Amirabdollahian, and other passengers and crew onboard the helicopter, a conspiracy theory started circulating online that Israeli intelligence agency Mossad was behind the crash.
Also read |Ebrahim Raisi no more: PM Modi, Russia's Putin, other world leaders remember late Iranian president
In a post on X, media personality Ari Hoffman clarified that this was fake news.
"Hamas Telegram has picked up a joke thatRaisi'spilot was a Mossad agent called Eli Copter and is pushing it as fact. These are the same geniuses that the mainstream media has been getting casualty numbers from for7months and publishing them without verification,"Hoffman said.
"My French is pretty terriblebutit sounds like this French anchor picked up the false report from Hamas that a Mossad agent named“Eli Copter”was likely involved in the helicopter crash which killedIran’sPresident Ebrahim RaisiThemedia is so eager to blame Israel for everything they continue to push fake news,"he added.
Also watch |Decoding Raisi's two-blade medium helicopter's capabilities
Hillel Fuld,a columnist, also confirmed on X that this is rumour.
"You LITERALLY cannot make this stuff up. Tons of people made the joke that the helicopter pilot was a Mossad agent called Eli Copter. Tons of Israel-hatersincludingactual TVstationsare reporting it likeit’sa fact,"Fuld said.
(With inputs from agencies)