Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, commenting on the helicopter crash that killed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, said on Tuesday that U.S. sanctions had worsened aviation safety.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Reuters/Maxim Shemetov
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, commenting on the helicopter crash that killed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, said on Tuesday that U.S. sanctions had worsened aviation safety.
Iranian media reported that images from the site showed the U.S.-made Bell 212 helicopter on which Raisi was travelling slammed into a mountain peak, although there was no official word on the cause of the crash.
Iran was a major buyer of Bell helicopters under the Shah before the 1979 Islamic revolution, though the exact origin of the aircraft that crashed was not clear. Decades of sanctions have made it hard for Iran to obtain parts or upgrade its aircraft.
"The Americans disown this, but the truth is that other countries against which the United States announced sanctions do not receive spare parts for American equipment, including aviation," Lavrov said about the crash.
"We are talking about deliberately causing damage to ordinary citizens who use these vehicles, and when spare parts are not supplied, this is directly related to a decrease in the level of safety."
Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Mark Trevelyan
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth discussed Iran with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during an unannounced visit to Israel on Monday, three Israeli officials said, as tensions flare between the US and Iran.
Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi said Tuesday that cooperation between Tehran and Moscow has never been closer, during Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov's first visit to Iran since the war in the Middle East began.
Egypt's parliament is expected to vote this week on whether to authorise the armed forces to help defend Saudi Arabia against attacks by Yemen's Houthis if Riyadh requests its support.
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