US mission to UN confirms it will boycott tribute event for Iran’s Raisi

The US Mission to the United Nations confirms that it will be boycotting a UN tribute event for Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash earlier this month.

“The UN should be standing with the people of Iran. 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 took place during his tenure,” says the US mission spokesperson Nate Evans in a statement.

The UN Security Council observed a minute of silence on May 20 to remember the victims of the helicopter crash. Deputy US Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood 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.”