Ahmad Bakhshayesh Ardestani, an Iranian member of parliament, stated that previous Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi also used pagers, and it is possible that a bomb in the device caused his helicopter to crash. These claims come after a week of fatal pager explosives in Lebanon that targeted Hezbollah terrorists.
According to Ardestani, a member of the National Security Commission of Parliament, Raisi used a pager, albeit it’s possible that it wasn’t the same model as the ones used by Hezbollah fighters. Ardestani made this claim to the Iranian media site Didban Iran.
“One likely scenario regarding the deadly helicopter crash that killed Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi is the explosion of his pager,” according to him.
Ardestani continued by claiming that Iran had purchased pagers for the terrorist Shi’ite Islamist organization.
“Our own intelligence agencies must also investigate this matter,” he added, requesting that Iran look into the Lebanon pager bomb event as well. “(Iranian forces) certainly played a role in the purchase of Hezbollah’s pagers,” he claimed. “The Israelis have infiltrated the layers of Hezbollah in Lebanon,” he stated.
Recently, a photo of Raisi and outgoing Iraqi Parliament Speaker Muhammad al-Halboosi went viral. The photo also showed a pager being maintained on the table. There are concerns that the former Iranian president may have been using a pager based on this photo.
Hardliner Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who was viewed as the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s possible successor, passed away on May 19 after his helicopter crashed in a hilly area close to the border with Azerbaijan.
Iran’s official TV reported earlier this month that the weather, which included heavy fog, was the main reason of the helicopter accident. The station cited the incident’s final inquiry report.
In the meanwhile, 39 people have died and over 3,000 have been wounded in the Lebanon pager bombings, which are generally suspected of being orchestrated by Israel. Israel has not acknowledged nor refuted its role. On September 17 and 18, Hezbollah members detonated bomb-packed pagers and walkie-talkies in two waves of strikes.
