Condolences Official

[Debra Necochea]

TheUS and European Union offered condolences to the Iranian government following the deaths of President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister in a helicopter crash in a mountainous region of northwest Iran on Sunday, sparking criticism from human rights activists.

The 63-year-old led Iran since his election in 2021. And during his tenure, he oversaw a brutal crackdown on dissent that was ignited first during the COVID-19 pandemic and then by September 2022's police killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died after being beaten by authorities over violating the country's draconian hijab laws.Advertisement

"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," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. "As Iran selects a new president, we reaffirm our support for the Iranian people and their struggle for human rights and fundamental freedoms."

The statement came under criticism from some conservatives and Republicans, including Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who said online that "offering condolences for the death of this monster is a disgrace."

Miller later explained to reporters during a regular State Department press conference that the Biden administration regrets the loss of life and does not want to see people die in helicopter crashes, but it does not change their view on him or the regime.

"We have been quite clear that Ebrahim Raisi was a brutal participant in the repression of the Iranian people for nearly four decades," he said. "Some of the worst human rights abuses occurred during his tenure as president, especially the human rights abuses against the women and girls of Iran.Advertisement

Kirby listed some of the offenses the United States holds him responsible for, from the arrest and physical violence against protesters at home to Iran's support of Hamas who killed some 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, which ignited the war that still rages in the Middle East.

"For our part, we're going to continue to stand with the Iranian people as they fight for their own civil rights," he told reporters during a press conference. "And we're going to continue to hold Iran accountable for all their destabilizing behavior in the region, which continues to this day."

But so did the European Union, with EU Council President Charles Michel stating online that "our thoughts go to the families," and Josep Borrell, the EU's top diplomat, offering the 27-member bloc's "condolences."

Meanwhile, the 15-member United Nations Security Council held a moment of silence for Raisi and those killed, at the request of Russia, China and Algeria. The United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, similarly held a moment of silence for those killed in the crash.

"He's responsible for butchering thousands around the globe. Thousands. This is who the security council dedicates a moment of silence to? A terrorist? A man who murders, oppressed so many?" he said. "What's next? Will the council hold a moment of silence for bin Laden? Will there be a vigil for Hitler? We wouldn't be surprised."Advertisement

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The European Union offers its condolences for the death of President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hussein Amir Abdollahian and other Iranian officials involved in the tragic helicopter crash on Sunday.

Hours after the incident at the Surmalu market when there was news only about one dead, Serdar Kilic, whom Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had appointed special representative for talks with Yerevan, posted his condolences on Twitter.

Armenia and Turkey have no diplomatic relations. Last year Pashinian and Turkish President Erdogan initiated a process of normalizing relations after decades of feud between the two nations over historical events, including the Ottoman-era genocide of Armenians that Turkey denies.

"The United States expresses its official condolences for the death of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, foreign minister [Hossein] Amir-Abdollahian, and other members of their delegation in a helicopter crash in northwest Iran," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement. "As Iran selects a new president, we reaffirm our support for the Iranian people and their struggle for human rights and fundamental freedoms."

Raisi, a longtime hardliner who was close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, was known for leading chants of "death to America" during public events in Iran. In February, during a rally in which onlookers burned American and Israeli flags, he slammed the U.S. for supporting "the Zionist regime's crimes against humanity in Gaza."

Raisi was nicknamed the "Butcher of Tehran" for his oversight of mass executions of political prisoners in 1988, which forced Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to install interim leadership for Iran's executive branch.

The helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi takes off at the Iranian border with Azerbaijan after Raisi and his Azeri counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, inaugurated the dam of Qiz Qalasi in Azeri, Iran, on May 19, 2024. (Ali Hamed Haghdoust/IRNA via AP)

"He's been responsible for the incarceration, torture, rape and murder of tens of thousands of people over the last few decades," Gerard Filitti, senior counsel with the Lawfare Project, which provides pro bono legal services to protect the civil and human rights of Jewish people worldwide, told Fox News Digital. "Raisi is not a man who will be missed."

"While it is understandable for the State Department to issue condolences when there is the death of a foreign head of state, it's baffling that someone who has such an atrocious record of violating human rights, supporting global terrorism, targeting the United States and allies, is someone who is receiving this outpouring of condolences, effectively from the United States government," he added.

Iran, an Islamic theocracy, has long cracked down on dissent from its citizens and has been known for its human rights abuses, including jailing people for dancing, social media activity and women who break the country's strict dress code.

"There's no secret that Iran violates human rights. It's a matter of its practice to rule according to its interpretation of religious law, and that leaves little room for what we understand as civil rights or human rights in the western democratic context," Filitti said.

He noted that the Biden administration has embarked on a strategy of trying to appease Tehran with regard to nuclear deal negotiations and freeing up billions of dollars that Iran uses to conduct terror attacks and abuse its citizens.

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