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This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.
The helicopter crash that killed former Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi happened in May 2024 and is unrelated to the June 2025 conflict between Israel and Iran
Claim: The president of Iran was killed in a helicopter crash.
Rating: MISSING CONTEXT
Why we fact-checked this: The video bearing the claim has already received 35,000 views, 275 reactions, 105 shares, and 33 comments as of writing. It was posted amid the exchange of attacks between Iran and Israel that started on June 13.
The video uses a news report from Frontline Pilipinas about the incident. Text on the video says, “Presidente ng Iran patay sa plane crash (Iranian president killed in plane crash).”
The account that posted the video did not indicate the exact date when the crash happened, confusing several Facebook users. One user commented, “Tapos na ang gyera (The war is over).”
The facts: The helicopter crash that killed former Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi happened on May 19, 2024. The original video from Frontline Pilipinas was posted on May 20, 2024. The timing of the Facebook post’s upload misleadingly presented the incident as the latest development in the recent Iran-Israel conflict.
Raisi, 63, was killed along with Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and six other senior officials in the crash that happened in mountainous terrain near the Azerbaijan border.
Investigations in September 2024 showed that bad weather caused the crash after the helicopter came down on a fog-shrouded mountainside in northern Iran.
Since assuming office in 2021, Raisi had pushed for nuclear negotiations with international powers, ordered a stricter enforcement of morality laws, and oversaw a brutal crackdown on anti-government demonstrations. The former Iranian president was also seen as a potential successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran’s current president is Masoud Pezeshkian, who won the elections after Raisi’s death.
Iran-Israel conflict: The video was posted amid the conflict between Iran and Israel, which started on June 13 after the latter launched strikes targeting Iran’s top military officials and nuclear sites. Israel said the strikes aimed to prevent Iran from allegedly developing an atomic weapon.
Iran has maintained that it is not seeking to build nuclear weapons. In 2015, it agreed to a deal with six world powers to curb its nuclear program in exchange for lifting economic sanctions. In 2018, however, US President Donald Trump decided to withdraw from the agreement. This stance angered Raisi, who then said that Iran was intensifying its nuclear program, but also assured that Tehran was not interested in building a nuclear weapon.
After 12 days of war, Trump announced that Iran and Israel had agreed to a ceasefire. – Angelee Kaye Abelinde/Rappler.com
Angelee Kaye Abelinde is a student journalist based in Naga City, and an alumna of Rappler’s Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship 2024.
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