File picture of U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller
| Photo Credit: AP

The United States on Monday said it had been unable, due largely to logistical reasons, to accept an Iranian request for assistance following the helicopter crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi, as Washington offered its condolences.

The rare request from Iran, which views the United States and Israel as its main adversaries, was disclosed by the State Department at a news briefing.

ALSO READ | Ebrahim Raisi: A hardline President who had the backing of Iran’s clerical establishment

“We were asked for assistance by the Iranian government. We did make clear to them that we would offer assistance, as we would do in response to any request by a foreign government in this sort of situation,” spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters.

“Ultimately, largely for logistical reasons, we were unable to provide that assistance,” Mr. Miller said, without elaborating.

The charred wreckage of the helicopter which crashed on Sunday carrying Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and six other passengers and crew, was found early on Monday after an overnight search in blizzard conditions.

EDITORIAL | Death of a President: On Iran’s Ebrahim Raisi

Iran has still not provided any official word on the cause of the crash of the U.S.-made Bell 212 helicopter in mountains near the Azerbaijan border.

No part to play in crash: U.S.

Asked whether he was concerned that Tehran might blame Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said: “The United States had no part to play in that crash.”

“I can’t speculate on what may have been the cause,” he added.

The crash comes at a time of growing dissent within Iran over an array of political, social and economic crises. Iran’s clerical rulers face international pressure over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program and its deepening military ties with Russia during the war in Ukraine.

Still, Mr. Austin played down any U.S. concerns that the crash might have immediate security implications in the Middle East.

“I don’t necessarily see any broader, regional security impact at this point,” he said.

Under the Islamic Republic’s constitution, a new presidential election must be held within 50 days.

Suzanne Maloney, an Iran scholar at the Brookings Institution think tank, said Mr. Khamenei and Iran’s security services would seek to avoid any perception of vulnerability during the transition period.

“As a result, I’d expect a skittish, reactive Iran that may be more risk-averse in the near term but paradoxically more dangerous if it perceives itself on the defensive,” Mr. Maloney said.

Tehran, Iran:

An Iranian court ordered the US government Thursday to pay $420 million in compensation to victims of an abortive 1980 operation to free hostages held at the US embassy, the judiciary said.

Shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution toppled the Western-backed shah, Iranian students entered the US embassy in Tehran and took more than 50 Americans hostage for 444 days.

The students called for the extradition of the deposed shah, who was being treated in the United States.

In April 1980, Washington attempted to free the hostages in the top-secret Operation Eagle Claw, which ended in disaster after running into sandstorms and mechanical problems.

As the rescue force withdrew, two US aircraft collided, killing eight servicemen.

In its Thursday report, the judiciary’s Mizan Online news agency said that during the operation US forces had “attacked” a bus carrying Iranian passengers. It did not elaborate.

“Following the complaint filed by families of the victims of US Operation Eagle Claw, a court ordered the US government to pay $420 million,” Mizan said, without specifying the number of the victims.

Iranian media have reported that a local commander of the Revolutionary Gaurds was accidentally shot and killed by Iranian forces while standing guard over US military equipment abandoned during the operation.

Five months after the hostage crisis, Washington severed diplomatic relations and imposed an embargo on Tehran.

The hostages were released in January 1981.

An Iranian court ordered the US government Thursday to pay $420 million in compensation to victims of an abortive 1980 operation to free hostages held at the US embassy, the judiciary said.

Shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution toppled the Western-backed shah, Iranian students entered the US embassy in Tehran and took more than 50 Americans hostage for 444 days.

The students called for the extradition of the deposed shah, who was being treated in the United States.

In April 1980, Washington attempted to free the hostages in the top-secret Operation Eagle Claw, which ended in disaster after running into sandstorms and mechanical problems.

As the rescue force withdrew, two US aircraft collided, killing eight servicemen.

In its Thursday report, the judiciary’s Mizan Online news agency said that during the operation US forces had “attacked” a bus carrying Iranian passengers. It did not elaborate.

“Following the complaint filed by families of the victims of US Operation Eagle Claw, a court ordered the US government to pay $420 million,” Mizan said, without specifying the number of the victims.

Iranian media have reported that a local commander of the Revolutionary Gaurds was accidentally shot and killed by Iranian forces while standing guard over US military equipment abandoned during the operation.

Five months after the hostage crisis, Washington severed diplomatic relations and imposed an embargo on Tehran.

The hostages were released in January 1981.

In August, a Tehran court ordered the US government to pay $330 million in damages for “planning a coup” in 1980 against the fledgling Islamic republic.

The suits filed against Washington in Iranian courts following a series of multi-billion dollar compensation awards against Tehran by US courts.

In 2016, the US Supreme Court ordered that Iranian assets frozen in the United States should be paid to victims of attacks Washington has blamed on Tehran, including the 1983 bombing of a US Marine barracks in Beirut and a 1996 blast in Saudi Arabia.

In March this year, the International Court of Justice ruled that Washington’s freezing of funds belonging to several Iranian individuals and companies was “manifestly unreasonable”.

But it ruled it had no jurisdiction to unblock nearly $2 billion in Iranian central bank assets frozen by the United States.

Tehran, which denies all responsibility for the attacks blamed on it by Washington, has said that US court judgments have awarded victims a total of $56 billion in damages.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that the US would respond “decisively” if Iran or its proxies attack Americans, the sternest warning yet as the Biden administration tries to keep Tehran from joining the war between Israel and Hamas.

“The United States does not seek conflict with Iran,” Blinken told a UN Security Council meeting Tuesday. “We do not want this war to widen. But if Iran or its proxies attack US personnel anywhere, make no mistake: We will defend our people, we will defend our security, swiftly and decisively.”

Blinken also urged others on the 15-member Security Council, including Russia and China, to tell Iran not to open another front against Israel or attack its partners, and to hold them accountable if it does so.

“To all the members of this council: If you, like the United States, want to prevent this conflict from spreading, tell Iran, tell its proxies – in public, in private, through every means – do not open another front against Israel in this conflict. Do not attack Israel’s partners.”

Blinken’s remarks were the latest in a stepped-up US messaging campaign to call out what it says is Iran’s involvement in violence in the region against US forces, along with its support of Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon who have launched rocket attacks on Israel in recent days. On Monday, the US said it would hold Iran responsible for a spate of drone and rocket attacks on US forces in the region.

In a phone call with France’s President Emmanuel Macron on Oct. 15, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi warned that the conflict could expand if Israel doesn’t stop what he called its crimes, “including the killing of the people and the siege of Gaza,” according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

It’s a complicated move for the Biden administration, which is flowing more forces into the Middle East, including two aircraft carrier groups, additional fighter jets and missile-defense systems. The US says the moves are aimed at making adversaries such as Iran think twice before joining the conflict, but they have also provoked fears that the US will bring about the outcome it wants to avoid by expanding its presence in a volatile situation.

Hamas fighters killed about 1,400 people and seized more than 200 hostages with an Oct. 7 raid on Israel, and Israeli forces have responded with airstrikes that have killed more than 5,000 people, according to Palestinian authorities.

Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas – which is designated a terrorist organization by the US and the European Union – permanently through a ground campaign in Gaza. But the US, its allies and adversaries have all expressed concern that such a military move could serve as the trigger for others to enter the conflict.

In his remarks Tuesday, Blinken also called for restraint. He said Israel has the right to defend itself, but “the way it does so matters.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)