DOSSIER: Iran loses people and aircraft due to US sanctions
By Tural Heybatov
The tragedy that struck Iran has shaken the world. On 19 May, the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi crashed.
The crash is believed to have been caused by adverse weather conditions, specifically a fog. The fog also hindered rescuers from immediately reaching the site where the presidential helicopter crashed. Dozens of rescue teams spent hours searching for the helicopter's wreckage until a Turkish Akıncı drone was able to locate the crash site. It is known that all on board perished.
Moreover, many questions why the Iranian president was flying in an American Bell 214, despite the Iranian fleet having Russian Mi helicopters, which were previously used by the Iranian head of state. The Bell 214 is an enhanced version of the Bell 212 helicopter, which served in the Israeli Air Force for a long time.
Even the last photos of Raisi clearly show that the helicopter was not in the best condition. The Bell 214 is quite an old machine. It first flew in 1970 and went into serial production in 1972. Along with the C-130 Hercules, Phantom, and F-14 aircraft, this helicopter was inherited by the Ayatollahs from the Shah's regime. The Shah had ordered over 300 Bell 212 and 214 helicopters from the US with the intention of setting up production in Iran. However, the Islamic Revolution disrupted these plans.
Nonetheless, the Islamic authorities managed to receive most of the ordered helicopters. Repair shops established during the Shah's time and imported spare parts helped keep the helicopters operational. The American helicopter was chosen by the Iranian president for its greater comfort and low noise level. This helicopter had been flying for 45 years without manufacturer oversight, and Tehran believed its resources were inexhaustible.
The crash of the presidential helicopter on 19 May is not the first aviation disaster in Iran. In 2022, an Iranian Air Force F-5 fighter jet crashed over Tabriz, killing three people. The pilot did not eject to steer the plane away from residential areas. Three people died, one of them a local resident. The plane crashed into a school building, which, fortunately, was closed for quarantine due to the pandemic.
Experts note that the Iranian Air Force primarily uses Russian MiG and Sukhoi fighters built during Soviet times, as well as a few Chinese aircraft and American F-4 and F-5 fighters made before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
A major aviation disaster occurred in Tehran in December 2005. An Iranian Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport aircraft with tail number 5-8519 crashed into a 10-storey residential building in the capital's Towhid district. The plane was heading to Bandar Abbas, a city on the Persian Gulf coast. On board were 10 crew members and 84 passengers, 68 of whom were journalists scheduled to observe military exercises.
Shortly after takeoff, the crew reported problems with engine number 4 and attempted an emergency landing at the departure airport, but the plane crashed into a densely-populated area of Towhid, hitting a residential building mostly inhabited by Iranian Air Force personnel. 106 people died, including 12 on the ground.
On 19 February 2003, an Il-76 aircraft carrying military personnel crashed in southeastern Iran, killing 276 people.
In 2011, the Flight Safety Advisory and Analytical Agency conducted a study of aviation accidents in Iran over the previous 10 years. At that time, Iran had nearly set a record for the number of aviation accidents in military and civilian aviation, with 14 accidents. It was already established that the main problem was the obsolescence of aircraft and the lack of spare parts, the latter being linked to sanctions imposed on Iran. This problem surfaced immediately after the Islamic Revolution and became acute during the war with Iraq. After 1982, the Iranian Air Force almost ceased operations due to what the media described as a catastrophic shortage of spare parts. To repair one plane, another had to be dismantled for parts.
By 1983, out of several hundred combat aircraft, only about 100 could fly. The Iranian Air Force lost more than 80 F-4 and F-5 fighters.
The 19 May 2024 tragedy is a consequence of American sanctions, according to statements in Iran. The US is one of the main culprits of the crash of the helicopter that carried Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage from Khudafarin to Tabriz, former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said. According to him, despite the International Court's decision, the US imposed sanctions on the sale of spare parts for air transport to Iran.
The Bell 214, on which the Iranian president flew, is no longer produced in the US due to its instability. In early summer 1992, after a rescue operation, a Bell 214 helicopter was returning to its base with a crew of three pilots, but the weather suddenly deteriorated, and a thick fog forced the pilot to navigate over wooded slopes using only instruments. Visibility was less than 30 metres. The helicopter crashed.
A similar situation occurred on 19 May in Iran. It is likely that such incidents will continue to occur in the future. While losing a fighter jet is a lesser tragedy, losing civilian aircraft with hundreds of passengers on board due to technical problems is much worse. The statistics for civilian aircraft in Iran are also very discouraging. Of course, every human life is valuable...
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