(Tehran) The Iranian armed forces’ general staff “firmly denied” on Wednesday a report by the local Fars news agency partly blaming the helicopter crash that cost the life of former President Ebrahim Raisi on overloading the aircraft.
The investigation into the May accident has been “fully completed,” Fars previously reported, citing a security source familiar with the investigators’ findings.
The agency said the investigation blamed the crash on poor weather conditions and the helicopter’s inability to gain altitude, carrying more passengers than expected under safety protocols. Two more passengers than expected were on board, the investigation said, Fars reported.
“What is mentioned in Fars news about the presence of two people in the helicopter, in violation of security protocols, is completely false,” the general staff said in a statement according to the state television website.
He warns the media against “publishing information relating to defence and security”.
In May, the Iranian military said it had found no evidence of criminal activity that could have caused the downing of the plane, which was carrying the president and seven others, including his foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
According to Fars, the investigation “absolutely” confirms the theory of the accident, excluding the possibility of “jamming and hacking of the electronic systems” of the aircraft. The agency specifies that “no traces of chemical agents or harmful substances were found during the investigation.”
The late president, 63, was returning from inaugurating a checkpoint on the border with Azerbaijan when the helicopter crashed on May 19 in the mountainous northwest of the country amid rain and thick fog.