Richie Allen: The Israelis say, “not us, we didn’t do it.” I’m inclined to not know what to think. I’m looking for motivation. And I’m thinking, well, Khamenei will just find another guy like the president and nothing will change. What say you?
Kevin Barrett: Well, I think Israel did it, Richie, and they are the world’s most outrageous psychopathic liars. So anything they deny can be taken as confirmation.
Richie Allen: But have you any proof that Israel did it?
Kevin Barrett: Of course not. That’s way above my pay grade.
Richie Allen: You know, I’m not being silly or childish when I ask that. But, you know, Israel has been blamed for it. from everything from September the 11th—
Kevin Barrett: Which they did.
Richie Allen: —to the (7/7/2005) bombings in London—
Kevin Barrett: Which they did.
Richie Allen: —to guys slipping on banana skins in Manchester on a Saturday night coming out of the pub.
Kevin Barrett: I’m not so sure about that one.
Richie Allen: They will say, where’s the proof and where’s the motivation? What do we have to gain by killing the Iranian president? What would they gain?
Kevin Barrett: Well, they’re extremely desperate right now. Their genocide in Gaza is getting them nowhere. They’ve fallen into a trap of their own making through the crazed rage that was their response to the very successful raid by Hamas on October 7th. And so they’ve been busily slaughtering women and children ever since, but they’re still losing the military fight. And the world has turned against them. Netanyahu in particular and his faction will only stay in power if they can keep this war getting bigger and bigger and bigger.
And Iran is their major adversary. They’ve been trying to drag the United States into an all-out war with Iran since 9/11, which was designed to take out seven countries in five years. And by far the most important was number seven, Iran. And they tried everything from stealing American nuclear weapons with the complicity of then Vice President Dick Cheney towards the end of the Bush-Cheney regime—They’ve tried everything in the book.
And now Netanyahu and his friends are going down. They need to turn this into World War III. They need to drag the U.S. into their war against Iran. And by murdering the Iranian president, they guarantee that Iran, once it determines that that’s what happened, is going to have to retaliate. And that, of course, could be spun as the provocation that leads to the war.
Richie Allen: Why are we not hearing from any sources inside the Iranian government that there is a belief that Israel was involved? Because it usually doesn’t take them too long to come out and throw accusations at Israel. So why have they taken so long? Why haven’t we heard from somebody in officialdom there, Kevin? Why not now?
Kevin Barrett: Well, they’re probably weighing their options. What they’ve said is that they’ve called it martyrdom. Now, you’re not a martyr if you just die in a crash. You’re a martyr if somebody kills you. So they have already essentially stated that the enemy or the enemies of Iran did this, by calling it a martyrdom.
As far as making it more explicit and calling out Israel directly, well, that’s all-out war. And they’re going to have to figure out how to make the war happen or do their retaliation in a way that works for them. If they announce it right now, then they’re obligated to strike Israel instantly. And then Israel, of course, knows that, and they’ll probably strike Iran first. And that may not be the best way for Iran to win the war.
Richie Allen: I heard a pro-Iranian commentator on BBC Radio this morning, and he made two very interesting points. So the weather and visibility was really bad. That’s number one. But number two, he lamented the fact that the economic sanctions on Iran have been so severe in recent years. And I don’t agree with them, of course. That’s just my opinion. But they can even impact on things like aeronautical safety—airplane travel safety and helicopter safety. And he seemed satisfied that it was the weather and maybe, just maybe, the helicopter itself wasn’t up to scratch. That’s a fair point. We can’t discount that, right?
Kevin Barrett: When people blame things like this (on the weather)—for instance, when Paul Wellstone’s plane went down in 2002…
https://www.vtforeignpolicy.com/2024/05/raisi-martyred-by-zionists/