Russia blames US sanctions for Raisi’s chopper crash in Iran

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday blamed the US for restricting supplies of US-made vehicle parts to Iran, thereby contributing to the death of late Iran president Ibrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.

A day earlier, Iran's former foreign minister, Javad Zarif, had made the same claims framing US sanctions as the main culprit behind the tragic accident in a mountainous region in Iran on Sunday.

Lavrov made his remarks during a tour to Kazakhstan for attending a trade summit there.

He has pointedly accused the United States of endangering people's lives after imposing sanctions that included a ban on the supply of spare parts to American aircraft.

"The Americans deny this, but in fact, in other countries against which the United States imposes sanctions, spare parts for American equipment are not even supplied," Lavrov told reporters.

The helicopter carrying Raisi and Iran’s late foreign minister was of US Bell 212 model. The helicopters of this Soviet-era model have suffered numerous damages and crashes over the years both in Iran and in other parts of the world.

Iran’s plight was particularly concerning as the Russian ally and arch US foe could not repair its fleet of US-made aircraft due to sanctions imposed by Washington in the wake of 1979 revolution.