Mast: 'No Reason to Believe' Iran Helicopter Crash Wasn't an Accident

Representative Brian Mast (R-FL) appeared on Fox Business to discuss the death of Iran President Ebrahim Raisi. He perished in a helicopter crash. While President Raisi was a high-ranking official, the Supreme Leader of Iran – Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – remains the head of state in the Middle Eastern theocratic nation.

The Florida congressman says that the death of Raisi does not change much for the United States and how it approaches the Israeli-Hamas war.

When asked about his feelings regarding the news, Rep. Mast said there isn’t much emotion to display from the American perspective.

“There really is no emotion to pass on. For me, it’s only the analysis of what does this mean for American national security, security of our allies, what does this mean for future attacks on Israel and the sentiment across the whole of the Middle East?” said Rep. Mast. “And the important thing to realize, the Ayatollah wears the title of Supreme Leader of Iran. It’s a lifetime Supreme Leader post. And the President of Iran, it’s an executive position, answering to the Supreme Leader, going to execute the will of the Supreme Leader.”

Furthermore, Mast stated that he believes the United States will not drastically alter its foreign policy in the Middle East in response to this circumstance.

“I don’t see a change in this for attitudes towards America, for what America’s attitude should be towards Iran, for what change in policy could take place towards Israel. I don’t see any change in that whatsoever and that’s my analysis,” said Mast.

Finally, the Florida congressman was asked if he believed the helicopter crash was “an accident.”

Mast responded, “Currently, I have no reason to believe that this wasn’t an accident. All reporting coming out of the Middle East, whether you’re looking at that from Turkey, from Qatar, from Saudi Arabia, from anybody that was helping with the search and rescue effort, all seem to indicate that this was entirely due to weather; heavy dense fog that was even preventing them from finding the crash site for hours.”

Mast represents Florida’s 21^st Congressional District.