US To Boycott UN Tribute To Iran Leader Raisi Killed In Helicopter Crash –Report

The United States will boycott a tribute in honour of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash.

The United Nations tribute will be done on Thursday, according to Reuters.

Reuters reports that a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. would not attend the event in any capacity.

“We won’t attend this event in any capacity,” the U.S. official exclusively told the news medium.

The 193-member U.N. General Assembly traditionally meets to pay tribute to any world leader who was a sitting head of state at the time of their death. The tribute will feature speeches about Raisi.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York declined to comment.

“The United Nations should be standing with the people of Iran, not memorializing their decades-long oppressor,” said the U.S. official.

“Raisi was involved in numerous, horrific human rights abuses, including the extrajudicial killings of thousands of political prisoners in 1988.”

“Some of the worst human rights abuses on record, especially against the women and girls of Iran, took place during his tenure,” the official said.

Flagnews had reported that President Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash in mountainous terrain near the Azerbaijan border.

The leader was a hardliner long seen as a potential successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The charred wreckage of the helicopter which crashed on Sunday, May 19, carrying Raisi was found early on Monday after an overnight search in blizzard conditions.

The helicopter’s passengers were President Raisi; Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahiyan; Ayatollah Al-Hashemi, Imam of Tabriz Mosque and the representative of the Iranian supreme leader to the province, and Governor of East Azerbaijan Province Malik Rahmati.

The U.N. Security Council stood at the beginning of an unrelated meeting for a moment of silence on May 20 to remember the victims of the helicopter crash. Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood reluctantly stood with his 14 counterparts.

The United States expressed its “official condolences” for Raisi’s death, the State Department said on May 20. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby also said that day: “No question this was a man who had a lot of blood on his hands.”