President Biden and the White House have witnessed significant blowback after it sent "official condolences" following the death of Ebrahim Raisi, known as "the Butcher of Tehran.”
Raisi earned the “butcher” nickname for his role as a prosecutor in 1988, when as many as 5,000 political prisoners were executed.
In February, during a rally at which the U.S. flag was burned, he slammed the U.S. for supporting "the Zionist regime's crimes against humanity in Gaza."
Brigitte Gabriel, founder and president of ACT for America, says it didn’t surprise her to watch the Biden administration “cozy up” to Iran.
“Because, somehow,” she says, “the Democrats believe that they are actually dealing with a regime, or with a country, that has representation you can actually talk with.”
Kid-glove treatment for Iran’s theocratic regime goes all the back to the Obama administration. After tens of thousands of Iranians marched in 2009 to protest a rigged presidential election, President Obama famously remained silent for two days while Iranians shouted “Down with dictatorship!” in the streets.
Obama was forced to address the election and the protests due to a violent crackdown against the protesters.
In 2016, the U.S. public learned about the “pallets full of cash” the Obama administration had secretly flown to Iran. The transfer of $400 million happened on the same day Iran released four American prisoners and publicly agreed to a U.S. nuclear deal.
Mirroring those deals, the Biden administration announced a deal in 2023 - on the anniversary of the 9/11 attack - that would unfreeze $6 billion in Iranian assets in exchange for five American prisoners.
A spokesman at the State Department said the agreement stipulated the funds must be used for humanitarian purposes. However, a top Iranian official told NBC News only Iran gets to define what humanitarian means.
"So this money will be budgeted for those needs," the Iranian leader said, "and the needs of the Iranian people will be decided and determined by the Iranian government."
That official was Ebraham Raisi.
