GOP officials are slamming the Biden administration’s decision to host Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi — dubbed the “Butcher of Tehran” — who travelled to New York to attend Tuesday’s United Nations session.
Republicans are speaking out against the decision to allow Raisi to enter the US and attend the 78th session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, despite U.S. sanctions against him for “complicity in serious human rights violations.”
Raisi, who once held a seat on the Central Committee of the nation’s “death commissions,” has an extensive record of ordering mass executions of opponents of the Islamic regime and is accused of involvement in a range of egregious human rights abuses, including the execution of thousands of political prisoners, including pregnant women and teenage girls.
Under Raisi’s watch, impunity was granted to security forces and government officials responsible for violent crackdowns on protests in 2019, when over 1,000 protesters were killed.
In addition, Raisi has appointed terrorists and anti-Western hardliners in top ministerial positions, including an interior minister wanted by Interpol for his role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires as well as a foreign minister with close links to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror group.
Iranian Americans hold signs and flags to protest Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s planned arrival to the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 18, 2023. (BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images)
In a letter addressed to President Joe Biden on Friday, GOP Senators Rick Scott (FL), Katie Boyd Britt (AL), Chuck Grassley (IA), Ted Budd (NC), and Tom Cotton (AR) highlighted Raisi’s role as leader of the world’s “largest state sponsor of terror.”
“There are no excuses for his regime’s active involvement in terrorism and its threats against former US officials and the national security of the United States, Israel, and our allies,” they insisted.
The senators demanded that he and his delegation “not be permitted to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York City,” citing Raisi’s “many actions” that demonstrate his “unapologetic sympathy and support for the world’s most evil and dangerous monsters.”
“Dictators and thugs with a track record of sponsoring terrorism & undermining democracy have NO place in the U.S., let alone the @UN,” Sen. Scott wrote on Saturday.
“@JoeBiden needs to end his weak appeasement policies & deny the Iranian and Cuban delegations’ visas immediately,” he added.
Dictators and thugs with a track record of sponsoring terrorism & undermining democracy have NO place in the U.S., let alone the @UN.
@JoeBiden needs to end his weak appeasement policies & deny the Iranian and Cuban delegations’ visas immediately. https://t.co/80jSVv5f6V— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) September 16, 2023
Sen. Britt slammed the “disgraceful decision,” calling it the “latest in a long line of dangerous appeasement by the Biden Administration.”
Accusing President Biden of “sending a clear message to the world that the United States of America tolerates terrorism,” the Alabama senator insisted that “the safety and security of all Americans is gravely imperiled by President Biden’s continued blunders on the global stage.”
My full statement regarding the Biden Administration’s decision to allow Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to enter the United States for the United Nations General Assembly in New York City this week: https://t.co/ACSrfNVa3F pic.twitter.com/VvhEvSC9Uo
— Senator Katie Boyd Britt (@SenKatieBritt) September 18, 2023
“Murderers shouldn’t get US visas,” proclaimed Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who had called on the Biden administration to block Raisi’s visa. “This administration is opening the door for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi into the U.S. while he assassinates dissidents and ignores basic human rights.”
Murderers shouldn’t get US visas. This administration is opening the door for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi into the U.S. while he assassinates dissidents and ignores basic human rights.
We joined @RepMoskowitz and @BretBaier to call on the Biden Admin to block his visa. pic.twitter.com/oIzIv91nke
— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) September 15, 2023
“Welcoming tyrants, like Díaz-Canel, Maduro, Ayatollah Raisi, or Ortega to our nation, sends a horrible message to the countless victims who have suffered under their authoritarian grip,” wrote Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL).
Welcoming tyrants, like Díaz-Canel, Maduro, Ayatollah Raisi, or Ortega to our nation, sends a horrible message to the countless victims who have suffered under their authoritarian grip. 2/2
— Senator Marco Rubio (@SenMarcoRubio) September 18, 2023
“The image of mass murderer & terrorist leader Ebrahim Raisi arriving in America, a country he hates & pledges death to, is disgusting and sends a signal of weakness,” wrote Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC).
“Biden insults our allies while welcoming a terrorist to America & giving them $ for mass murder,” he added.
The image of mass murderer & terrorist leader Ebrahim Raisi arriving in America, a country he hates & pledges death to, is disgusting and sends a signal of weakness. Biden insults our allies while welcoming a terrorist to America & giving them $ for mass murder.
— Joe Wilson (@RepJoeWilson) September 18, 2023
“Iran’s President Raisi is a serial human rights abuser and a mass murderer with a history of targeting Americans,” wrote Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst.
“The Butcher of Tehran should not be afforded the privilege of stepping on American soil, but is being welcomed by the UN,” she added.
Iran’s President Raisi is a serial human rights abuser and a mass murderer with a history of targeting Americans.
The Butcher of Tehran should not be afforded the privilege of stepping on American soil, but is being welcomed by the UN. https://t.co/ezhbuOqNzs
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) September 18, 2023
“President Raisi helped organize the execution of around 5,000 dissidents in the 1980s and is scheduled to speak in the U.S. this week,” wrote Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney of New York, highlighting the SEVER Act she reintroduced with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) “to ban terrorists like [Raisi] from entering the U.S.”
President Raisi helped organize the execution of around 5,000 dissidents in the 1980s and is scheduled to speak in the U.S. this week.
Last week, @SenTedCruz and I reintroduced the SEVER Act to ban terrorists like him from entering the U.S. https://t.co/PdtTur5y2R
— Rep. Claudia Tenney (@RepTenney) September 18, 2023
“It’s a simple concept: The Butcher of Tehran should not be allowed to step foot on U.S. soil. Yet the Biden Administration plans to welcome him with open arms,” she wrote in another post. “We must immediately ban President Raisi from attending the UNGA!”
“This is a complete outrage,” wrote Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz. “Raisi is a monster who has called for the murder of President Trump and other US officials.”
“He is sanctioned and banned from the US. Biden is letting him in anyway to propagandize,” he added.
This is a complete outrage. Raisi is a monster who has called for the murder of President Trump and other US officials. He is sanctioned and banned from the US. Biden is letting him in anyway to propagandize. https://t.co/Vk2Q9wjnwW
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 14, 2023
The matter comes on the heels of the Biden administration approving a widely condemned deal with Iran to pay the Islamic regime $6 billion in exchange for five detained Iranian American citizens.
Despite assurances the unfrozen funds will be used solely for humanitarian purchases, Raisi stated the money “belongs to the Islamic Republic of Iran, and naturally, we will decide, the Islamic Republic of Iran will decide to spend it wherever we need it.”
On Tuesday, thousands are expected to rally against Raisi’s visit to the United States.
LIVE BROADCAST: Rally Outside UN in Support of Uprisings for a Democratic Republic in Iran
Call for Prosecution of Ebrahim Raisi for Role in 1988 Massacre of Political Prisoners
Tuesday, Sept 19, 2023 – 5 pm (CET)#UNRally4FreeIran #ProsecuteRaisiNow https://t.co/QruxiqDoPm— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) September 19, 2023
Previously, a newspaper under the control of Iran’s Supreme Leader warned that former President Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo could be “next” for “divine revenge” over the assassination of IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020, as it lauded the attack on “apostate” author Salman Rushdie that left him with serious injuries.
The British-American author had been marked for death by the Iranian regime for decades, with the country’s then supreme theocratic leader Ayatollah Khomeini calling for “Muslims of the world rapidly to execute the author and the publishers of the book” so that “no one will any longer dare to offend the sacred values of Islam.”
Media in Iran have since celebrated the attack on the award-winning author.
The threats against the former president and secretary of state follow the charging of an Iranian national for allegedly planning the assassination of former National Security Adviser John Bolton.
Shahram Poursafi, who is alleged by American security officials to be a member of Iran’s IRGC, is reported to have attempted to pay individuals up to $300,000 to kill Bolton, though Iranian officials have dismissed the claim.
Additionally, Iranian state media has published a video clip boasting of the regime’s nuclear capabilities, claiming it can — in a moment’s notice — “transform” its nuclear program into an “atomic military” one, creating a “nightmare” for Israel and the West, and warning of its “ability to turn New York into a heap of rubble from Hell.”
Last year, former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence accused the Biden administration of threatening to “unravel all the progress” the Trump administration made in marginalizing the Iranian regime.
He also blasted the Biden team’s concessions to the “tyrants” in Tehran, its “virtual abandonment of our ally Israel,” and the “disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan,” which have emboldened the “adversaries of freedom” that now sense “weakness” in the American administration.
Iran, the largest state sponsor of terrorism worldwide, claims its nuclear program is for energy purposes, but world leaders, including the six nations that joined the 2015 deal to limit Iran’s nuclear weapons capacity, say enriching uranium may lead to Iran’s ability to quickly create a nuclear weapon.
While the Obama-led nuclear deal — deemed fatally flawed and highly one-sided by many, from which then-President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018 — delineates an enrichment limit of 3.67 percent, Iran has been accused of violating the agreement as Tehran produces more enriched uranium.
On Thursday, a group of over 160 distinguished international human rights and legal experts, Nobel Prize laureates, and various organizations demanded the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) “immediately” cancel a planned meeting with Raisi.
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jklein@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.