Secretary of State Antony Blinken is defending his department’s decision to issue a statement expressing condolences after the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.
During a hearing on Tuesday, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) noted, “Yesterday, the State Department issued a statement mourning the death of the Iranian president.”
“I assume as secretary, you share that sentiment?” he asked.
Blinken responded, “We expressed official condolences as we have when countries — adversaries, enemies or not — have lost leaders. It changes nothing about the fact that Mr. Raisi was engaged in reprehensible conduct including repressing his own people as a judge and then as president.”
“It changes not a whit about our policy. But, it’s something that we’ve done many times in the past, going back many administrations and many decades, and we do as a normal course of business,” he added.
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Barrasso shot back, “Well, I don’t think it should be a normal course of business.”
“I think it’s shocking that this administration would mourn the death of the Butcher of Tehran. I don’t. He’s responsible for death, rape, torture, a sworn enemy of the free world. I think it’s a terrible mistake,” he added.
On Monday, Iranian state television reported Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and seven other passengers were killed when the helicopter they were traveling in crash in the northwestern part of the country.
Raisi, the second-most powerful official in Iran, oversaw the harsh crackdown on protesters after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was killed.
Forbes notes, “Raisi served as the prosecutor general of Tehran between 1989 and 1994, when he earned the nickname ‘Butcher of Tehran.’ He participated in a so-called death commission that ordered the executions of thousands of political prisoners in 1988. He was then appointed as chair of the General Inspection Office, which oversees the legality of the government, in 1994 before moving up the ranks of the judicial system to ultimately become the country’s chief justice.”
In a statement a State Department spokesperson said, “The United States expresses its official condolences for the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian, and other members of their delegation in a helicopter crash in northwest Iran.”
“As Iran selects a new president, we reaffirm our support for the Iranian people and their struggle for human rights and fundamental freedoms,” it added.
The United Nations Security Council also received criticism after its members held a moment of silence for Raisi. And a spokeswoman for NATO posted on X, “Our condolences to the people of [Iran] for the death of President Raisi, Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian, and others who perished in the helicopter crash.”
