Authored by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog,

World leaders have been targeted quite frequently this month, and that should deeply alarm all of us.  I think that all of this geopolitical instability is a sign that there is far more going on behind the scenes than we are being told.  The major powers appear to be making moves in anticipation of what they believe is coming next.  Right now, the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is dominating the news cycle, and at this stage we don’t know if that was an accident or not. 

But as a Twitter user known as “Cillian” has pointed out, there has been quite a lot of “international intrigue” during the past couple of weeks…

Over the past two weeks:

May 7th: Assassination attempt against Saudi Crown Prince.

May 13th: Turkish President Erdoğan holds emergency meeting following warning of possible military coup.

May 15th: Assassination attempt on Slovak PM Robert Fico.

May 16th: Citizen arrested for threatening to assassinate Serbian President Vučić.

May 19th: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman hospitalised for second time in four weeks.

May 19th: Helicopter crash involving Iranian President Raisi and Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian.

What is going on right now?

And I have one more item to add to the list.

On Sunday, a coup that involved at least three U.S. citizens was foiled in the Democratic Republic of Congo…

American citizens were involved in an attempted coup d’état that left at least three people dead on Sunday in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a military spokesperson told CNN Monday.

The attempted coup, which targeted the residence of Congolese politician Vital Kamerhe and the country’s presidential palace, was led by opposition leader Christian Malanga, who was killed in a gun battle between the armed putschists and the presidential guards, according to army spokesman General Sylvain Ekenge. Ekenge also claimed Malanga was a US citizen, though the State Department said later it had no records of him.

“I confirm the death of Christian Malanga neutralized during the exchange of fire at the Palais de la Nation (presidential palace),” Ekenge told CNN, adding that Malanga’s son Marcel, “was among those arrested.”

Ekenge named three other Americans, identified as Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, Patrick Ducey, and Taylor Thomson were involved in the foiled coup.

It is being alleged that Zalman-Polun, Ducey and Thomson were CIA agents, but U.S. officials are denying this.

With everything that has been going on, I think that it would be wise for all world leaders to be on a heightened state of alert.

As for why Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter went down, that remains a mystery.

What we do know is that he was flying during heavy fog in a very remote area in the mountains, and the helicopter that he was on was very old…

Iranian state media reported that the helicopter that crashed in Iran was a Bell 212 model. It is a civilian version of the ubiquitous Vietnam War-era UH-1N “Twin Huey”. Such helicopters are in wide use globally by both governments and private operators.

It was developed for the Canadian military in the late 1960s and introduced in 1971.

Helicopter tragedies happen all the time, and we certainly cannot rule out an accident in this case.

It is also being suggested that one of Raisi’s domestic enemies could have targeted the helicopter…

According to a report in The Economist, Raisi had a long list of enemies in Iran, including relative moderates he has marginalised to the fellow conservatives who think he has been an inept president.

It said that some Iranians believe that Raisi’s enemies may have their exacted revenge. “It is not unreasonable to wonder if domestic foes conspired to kill him,” the report said.

I think that this is also a very strong possibility.

Iranian politics is a very messy business, and those that are jockeying for power can be absolutely ruthless.

Of course the dominant narrative that will eventually emerge from inside Iran is that either the U.S. or Israel is responsible.

According to Reuters, one Israeli official has already stated that “it wasn’t us”…

As conspiracy theories began to circulate online Israel – a long time foe of Iran – denied any involvement in Raisi’s death. An Israeli official told the Reuters news agency: “It wasn’t us.”

Needless to say, no matter how many times the Israelis deny responsibility most Iranian officials will never believe them.

And without a doubt, the Israelis are not sad to see Raisi go.  In fact, they were quite outraged when there was a moment of silence at the UN on Monday…

Amid the international messages of condolence and support for Iran after the death of President Ebrahim Raisi, the United Nations Security Council on Monday held a solemn moment of silence to observe his passing. Israel is outraged by the gesture, saying that it was tantamount to honoring a terrorist, or “Hitler” – as stated by Israeli Ambassador to UN Gilad Erdan.

“You read correctly, the UN Security Council today held a moment’s silence to remember a mass murderer, Iranian President Raisi,” Erdan said in a video published to social media.

“This body, which makes no effort to free our hostages, tipped their heads today to a man who was responsible for the deaths of thousands in Iran, in Israel, and around the world.”

It is well known that Raisi was responsible for the deaths of vast numbers of people, and under his rule the persecution of Christians in Iran got even worse…

Christians in Iran faced intensified persecution in 2023, as highlighted in a joint annual report by advocacy groups Article 18, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Open Doors, and Middle East Concern.

The report, released on Monday, revealed a surge in arrests, with 166 documented in 2023 compared to 134 in the previous year. Disturbingly, one-third of those arrested were targeted for possessing multiple copies of the Bible.

The arrests unfolded in waves, increasing over the summer and spiking during Christmas, creating a higher number of “faceless victims” as fewer cases were publicized. By the end of the year, 17 Christians faced prison sentences or punitive measures for “propaganda against the state.”

The Biden administration was also not very fond of Raisi, but on Monday U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin denied that the United States had anything to do with his death…

United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday denied Washington’s involvement in the tragic helicopter crash that killed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the country’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

The defense secretary, however, declined to comment on the reporter’s question about whether Tehran would blame Israel for the helicopter crash. “They have to conduct an investigation to see what the cause of the crash was, it could be a number of things,” Austin added.

This is a mystery that may not be solved any time soon.

But the Iranians will inevitably want to blame someone, and that will bring us even closer to all-out war in the Middle East.

I don’t think that all-out war is coming immediately.

But emotions on both sides are reaching a fever pitch, and I fully expect the conflict in the Middle East to go to an entirely new level by the end of this calendar year.

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Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.