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Three-minute read<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n On August 21, 2024, three months after the fatal helicopter crash that killed the Iranian regime\u2019s president Ebrahim Raisi on May 19, conflicting reports about the cause of the crash emerged, revealing a regime in disarray and struggling to maintain a coherent narrative. The IRGC-affiliated Fars News Agency<\/em> released<\/a> a report claiming that the crash was due to the helicopter being overloaded and encountering bad weather. This report was almost immediately contradicted by the General Staff of the Armed Forces, which dismissed the Fars<\/em> report as \u201cinvalid and discredited,\u201d denying the claims of overloading and adverse weather conditions as the primary causes of the crash.<\/p>\n The incident itself occurred on May 19, when Raisi, alongside eight other officials, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, died after their helicopter crashed in the forests of Varzaqan in East Azerbaijan Province. While the regime initially delayed announcing the deaths for 18 hours, the eventual confirmation did little to quell the growing rumors and skepticism among the Iranian populace. Many Iranians, long oppressed under Raisi’s rule\u2014who was infamously known as the \u201cButcher of Tehran<\/a>\u201d for his role in the mass executions of political prisoners in the 1980s\u2014reacted with a sense of relief and even joy, viewing his death as a long-awaited setback against a brutal and oppressive regime.<\/p>\n In the 16 hours it took the clerical regime in #Iran<\/a> to announce #Raisi<\/a>'s disappearance and finally declare his death, three decades of military boasting and bravado were put in jeopardy. pic.twitter.com\/X4McgbbFCm<\/a><\/p>\n — NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) May 28, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n