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Top House Republicans are coming down hard on the Biden administration for expressing condolences for the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, whose ruthless ways earned him the nickname “Butcher of Tehran.”
“It is absurd that the Biden administration touted their support for human rights while, in the same breath, offering official condolences for the ‘Butcher of Tehran.’ Clearly, the Democrat Party of today has become the pro-terrorist party,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told Fox News Digital.
House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., called the State Department’s message “unacceptable, unnecessary, and outrageous.”
“Biden’s State Department expressing condolences for the death of a brutal and monstrous enemy of America who tortured and killed his own people and led the charge to fund terrorist proxies around the world that have killed American soldiers is a new low for Joe Biden,” Stefanik wrote in a Tuesday morning statement.
IRAN’S PRESIDENT, FOREIGN MINISTER, OTHER OFFICIALS CONFIRMED DEAD IN HELICOPTER CRASH
Rep. Elise Stefanik and other House Republicans are going after President Biden’s State Department for expressing condolences over the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. (Getty Images)
“Sec. Blinken’s weak leadership and eagerness to appease the hostile Iranian regime reflects Biden’s policy of rolling over for our nation’s adversaries.”
Raisi and Iran’s foreign minister were declared dead on Monday following a helicopter crash in a mountainous area of northwest Iran, the country’s state TV reported.
The late conservative cleric was known for taking a brutal approach to silencing dissent, beginning in the 1980s when he was part of a four-judge panel accused of ordering the executions of as many as 30,000 political dissidents, according to some reports.
As president, he also oversaw a harsh government response to mass protests over the killing of a 22-year-old woman who was accused of not wearing her hijab properly.
People hold up posters of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during a mourning ceremony for him at Vali-e-Asr square in downtown Tehran on Monday, May 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
The State Department released a brief statement upon news of Raisi’s death, “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 prompted pushback from rank-and-file GOP lawmakers, in addition to leadership.
“Ebrahim Raisi was known as the ‘Butcher of Tehran’ for a REASON. He was an evil tyrant who persecuted & killed thousands of innocent Iranians & was a protégé of the Ayatollah himself,” Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., wrote on X Tuesday. “The United States SHOULD NOT be sending condolences. The world is a safer place WITHOUT him.”
Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., called on the Biden administration to “publicly denounce” Iran’s regime in place of offering condolences, in addition to backing Iranian resistance fighters and returning to “the Trump Admin’s campaign of maximum pressure.”
OUTRAGE AS IRAN PRESIDENT PREPARES TO ADDRESS UN: ‘WANTS TO KILL AMERICAN CITIZENS’
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer called the State Department statement “absurd.” (Getty Images)
State Department spokesman Matt Miller defended the U.S. position when confronted about the controversy during a Monday afternoon press conference.
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“We have been quite clear that Ebrahim Raisi was a brutal participant in the repression of the Iranian people for nearly four decades,” Miller said. “That said, we regret any loss of life. We don’t want to see anyone die in a helicopter crash. But that doesn’t change the reality of his record, both as a judge and as the president of Iran – the fact that he has blood on his hands. So I think most importantly, our fundamental approach to Iran has not changed and will not change.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department for further comment.
Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.
Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com
