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An online joke claiming that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi had been killed in a helicopter crash caused by a Mossad operative named “Eli Copter” fooled several media outlets, including Russian state TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov.
in Monday’s episode of Solovyov’s showthe host cited unfounded allegations in an attempt to imply that the Israeli government was responsible for Raisi’s death.
Raisi, 63, died in a helicopter crash in northwestern Iran on Sunday, along with several senior officials. State media said the vehicle crashed into a mountainside.
The Iranian leader died at the crash site amid heavy fog and bad weather, making it difficult for rescue teams to find the crashed helicopter and assess its condition at the time.
There is no evidence that foul play was involved, but some online have attempted to characterize the incident as an assassination orchestrated by Israel or the United States.
Israeli officials said Tel Aviv had no involvement in the crash, a claim disputed by Solovyov.
“If Israel said, ‘No, no, that’s not us,’ wait a minute, if it were you, would you admit that?” he said. Russian Media Monitor.
He showed footage of political analyst Daniel Haik on the French broadcast of Israeli TV station i24 News discussing rumors that a Mossad agent known as “Eli Kopter” was involved in Raisi’s death.
Solovyov has therefore become a key figure in a chain of misinformation stemming from a meme on Twitter that parodies the word “helicopter.”
Some of the people reporting on Raisi’s death didn’t seem to notice the joke. Hamas-affiliated Telegram channel Al-Qassam Brigades Correspondent cited the fake name in its initial report, but later deleted the message. According to France24News.
Hike Later, i24 quoted Hamas’ messagestating that “Eli Copter’s” involvement is a rumor that cannot yet be confirmed.
In response to an interview with Business Insider, a spokesperson for i24 France apologized to viewers on behalf of the station for the mistake.
A spokesperson said, “We will learn from this incident and do our best to prevent mistakes like this from happening again.”
But that didn’t stop Solovyov’s show from using Haik’s clips to back up his criticism of the US and Israel, implying that they might be responsible for Raisi’s death.
Mr. Solovyov is considered one of Russia’s Kremlin’s most prominent propagandists and regularly uses aggressive and pro-war rhetoric against the West.
Russia, an ally of Iran, I expressed my condolences. He visited Tehran after President Raisi’s death and called the late president a “true friend” and an “outstanding politician.”
The two countries have been deepening their economic ties since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has increasingly alienated Russia from the global economy. With Washington’s blessing, they agreed to start trading last year. local currency instead of US dollars.
by Observatory of Economic ComplexityThe trade volume between the two countries in 2021 was approximately $2 billion, according to the MIT Media Lab.
Ann January analysis by the Centre for European Policy Analysis It is estimated that trade between the two countries may have reached $4.9 billion.