One of the most important pipelines in Europe in one of the most surveilled areas of the Baltic Sea was destroyed in an act of sabotage and investigations by the Swedes and Denmark end without a culprit named.
The Prime Minister of Slovakia was shot five times after he halted his country’s aid to Ukraine, by a senior citizen acting alone and who was a vehement supporter of Ukraine.
The Iranian president and foreign minister are both killed in a freak helicopter accident, during which the other two escort helicopters managed to return safely.
“You had three helicopters flying in a row, one all of a sudden drops out. No mayday. No nothing. And if it was due to foggy conditions, how did the other two get through okay? But not the president's?” Michael Maloof, a retired senior security policy analyst asked the hosts of Sputnik’s The Critical Hour on Monday.
The Iranian delegation was flying in the Iranian province of East Azerbaijan, which borders the country of Azerbaijan, a close ally of Israel.
On Monday, an Israeli official reportedly told US media that it was not involved in the Iranian President’s death.
But, as Maloof notes, Israel has a history of alleged clandestine operations inside of Iran, including the bombing of pipelines, the murder of nuclear scientists and the recent response from Israel to an Iranian attack which Iran says was carried out from within its territory.
“[The attack by Israel on Iran] was also a very meager response, but I think that this was all planned for something much larger, something like this,” Maloof speculated.
“You have other episodes occurring throughout the West, including the attempted assassination of the prime minister of [Slovakia]... So these are not happening in isolation. Something bigger is going on out there. I think people are trying to put their finger on it,” he added.
The same day as the Iranian president’s helicopter crashed, officials for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) army said they thwarted a coup attempt and arrested 50 people, including three Americans. The coup’s alleged leader, Christian Malanga, was killed in the attempt. Malanga lived in the US for most of his life and according to videos posted online, visited the Israeli military in 2015.
Maloof concluded that if it is revealed that Israel was involved in Raisi’s death, the response will be significant. “You saw what the reaction was when the Israelis hit the Iranian consulate in Syria… for the first time, Iran displayed that it could strike Israel directly. If this helicopter crash indeed was purposeful and it could link back to Israel, I rethink you’re going to see a very major response.”