The United States on Thursday boycotted the United Nations tribute to the late American president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, nicknamed “the Butcher of Tehran.”
At a sparsely attended UN General Assembly meeting, delegates from around the world stood for a minute to pay their respects to the leader who died in a recent helicopter crash.
Several members from Iran attended and some UN leaders from around the world stopped by to express their condolences to the Iranians.
Notably, no one from the United States appeared to attend the session in an act of protest against the leader who had a long list of well-documented human rights violations.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses delegates at the United Nations General Assembly during a ceremony honoring Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi at United Nations headquarters in New York.
Raisi was expected to succeed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, before he died in a helicopter crash in northern Iran, near the border with Azerbaijan.
The accident occurred earlier this month, on May 19.
Paying tribute to deceased world leaders is a typical practice of the 193-member General Assembly when a head of state dies in office.
Nate Evans, spokesman for the US mission to the United Nations, said that “the United States will not attend the United Nations tribute event for President Raisi in any way.”
“Raisi was involved in numerous horrific human rights abuses, including the extrajudicial executions of thousands of political prisoners in 1988,” Evans said. “Some of the worst human rights abuses on record took place during his tenure.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (left) during a moment of silence during a United Nations (UN) General Assembly tribute to the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi at UN headquarters in New York on 30 May 2024.
Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Saeed Iravani (L) receives condolences during a United Nations (UN) General Assembly tribute to the late Iranian leader.
Raisi was 63 years old and died along with several other state officials.
Other U.N. delegates gave speeches during the roughly 50-minute commemorative meeting.
Raisi gained notoriety for serving on a 1988 panel that oversaw the execution of hundreds of political prisoners.
The panel was convened to sentence political dissidents after the eight-year war between Iran and Iraq.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres noted during the tribute that the late leader oversaw the country during turbulent times regionally and internationally.
“The United Nations stands in solidarity with the Iranian people and in the pursuit of peace, development and fundamental freedoms,” Guterres said.
Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani, also celebrated the late Raisi and others who died in the accident.
“They were not only figures of authority, but also a symbol of hope, resilience and the lasting power of good governance and diplomacy,” Iravani lamented at the UN meeting.
Rescuers recover bodies at the crash site of a helicopter carrying Iran’s president, his foreign minister and others in a fog-covered mountainous area of Varzaghan, northwest Iran, on May 20, 2024.
The accident occurred in the northern part of Iran.
Iranians living in New York protest against the commemoration ceremony for the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
“We remain committed to defending the principles of peace, security, justice and multilateralism that they tirelessly supported.”
Iranian elections will be held on June 28 to elect a new president.