The United Nations announced on Tuesday that it will lower its flag to half-mast "as a mark of respect" for the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash on Sunday.
Yaki Lopez of the Foreign Ministry's Bureau for Digital Diplomacy called the tribute to the late Iranian leader, notorious for sanctioning the executions of thousands of political prisoners during his tenure as Tehran's chief prosecutor in the late 1980s and more recently cracking down violently on protesters as president, a "disgrace."
"The @UN has completely gone off the deep end," he wrote on X. "Lowering the UN flag to half mast in tribute of Iranian President Raisi, a.k.a The Butcher of Tehran.
"Raisi is personally responsible for the deaths of thousands of Iranians, as well as for attacks on Israel. What a disgrace."
Raisi, 63, died on Sunday when his helicopter crashed in a mountainous region in the country's northwest. Eight more people were killed in the fatal crash, including Raisi's foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, a provincial governor, a prominent cleric and the flight crew.
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Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi under a portrait of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
(Photo: ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Their bodies were recovered at the end of a complex 16-hour rescue mission in harsh terrain and inclement weather conditions, with thick fog covering the area and heavy rain.
The helicopter incident occurred near Jolfa, a city close to the Azerbaijani border, approximately 600 kilometers (375 miles) northwest of Tehran.
Raisi was visiting Azerbaijan to inaugurate a dam with Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev, against the backdrop of tense relations between the two countries, partly due to Azerbaijan's close ties with Israel. The air incident apparently happened on his way back.
Large crowds gathered across the country on Tuesday to mourn the victims of the crash. Their caskets were marched through the streets of Tabriz, near the crash site, as well as Tehran, the capital, and Qom, a city sacred in Shi'ite Islam.
Raisi, elected president in 2021, was seen as a possible successor for the Islamic Republic's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 85. Raisi's deputy, Mohammad Mokhber, assumed his presidential authorities and a new election had been scheduled for June 28 with no heir-apparent cleric for the presidency.