Raisi and several top Iranian officials, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, were killed on Sunday after their helicopter crashed in a rugged region in East Azerbaijan province.
A report published by the Iranian Armed Forces on Thursday said they did not find any ‘“bullet marks or similar cases” on the remains of the crashed Bell 212 chopper, indicating that there was no attack on Raisi and his entourage, reported the state-owned IRNA.
The pilot had communicated with the pilots of other two helicopters accompanying them and he did not change the route of the trip, the initial report read, adding that “the crashed helicopter caught fire after hitting the height,” referring to the rugged mountainside where the aircraft was found after more than 15 hours of search.
The army noted that they need more time to reach a final conclusion.
Iran has treated the crash as a natural incident caused by bad weather, refraining from assigning blame to any specific country. Tehran’s arch-foe, Israel, has denied any involvement in the crash and the US has offered its condolences Raisi’s death.
Iranian state media identified the crashed helicopter as Bell 212. This model was developed by a US company for the Canadian army in the 1960s, according to the BBC.
Washington has said its weapons sanctions on Tehran should not be blamed for the incident.
“Ultimately, it is the Iranian government that is responsible for the decision to fly a 45-year-old helicopter in what is described as poor weather conditions, not any other actor,” Mathew Miller told Rudaw during a press briefing on Monday.
