It is with a heavy heart that we must report who Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's real killer is: The United States of America.

At least, that's the implication from Iran, which needed a couple of days to get its story straight and blame "Western sanctions" on the poor quality of its helicopters, which led to Raisi's untimely demise. That talking point is now floating around, thanks to friendly media outlets willing to overlook (if not actually cheer on) Iran being a country run by very bad people.

“One of the culprits behind yesterday’s tragedy is the United States, because of its sanctions that bar Iran from procuring essential aviation parts,” said Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s former foreign minister. “These will be recorded in the list of US crimes against the Iranian people.”

Raisi's helicopter, a Bell 212, is a decades-old vehicle model that includes analog controls rather than up-to-date digital controls. Some experts have suggested that means the helicopter was unable to communicate with any air traffic control towers or call for help. That, combined with the heavy fog and incoming storm, proved to be fatal. Rather than admit that they shouldn't have been flying in such conditions or that they shouldn't have been terror-supporting rabble-rousers who deserve more sanctions than they have, Iran has instead blamed the U.S.

It could be worth mentioning that the real real killer may be a bit closer to home - Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's son, Mojtaba, stands to gain a lot from Raisi's death. The two men were considered the top two contenders for the next Ayatollah. 

Of course, to accuse the Supreme Leader's son of killing a political rival without any evidence would be reckless, at best. But, it's just as reckless to help Iran deflect blame for their own actions by giving their whiny claims any sort of airtime. Which is what some media outlets are more than happy to do.

It could have been that the variant flying the Iranian president did not feature either a weather radar or a radar capable of penetrating the clouds to establish altitude, making it difficult to fly in poor conditions when entirely reliant on the pilot’s visuals to navigate the terrain.

The conditions were so bad that an EU satellite and Turkish drones had to be brought in to find the remains of the helicopter.

And given the location and Turkish claims that the aircraft was not fitted with transmitting equipment, it may have been difficult for the pilots to seek help from air traffic controllers.

The central claim is that the West, led by the U.S., imposed sanctions that made it impossible for Iran to upgrade their helicopters. Which, to be fair, is very true. We did make it impossible. But Iran is not the victim in this, because the sanctions don't exist in a vacuum. They weren't arbitrarily imposed on Iran because we are Big Meanies. 

Rather, Iran did everything within its power to earn those sanctions. They are the world's leading sponsor of terrorism - including funding and training the Hamas fighters who took so many Jewish lives on October 7, 2023 - and they are unrepentant about that fact. They have routinely and aggressively tried to hurt U.S. interests. The people in charge of that country have run it into the ground, but would rather blame the U.S. than admit they are not good people.

So, if they U.S. is responsible because of sanctions, then Iran is responsible because of the behavior that earned them those sanctions. And there is no reason to feel any sort of sympathy toward them.