WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - As Iran mourns the death of President Ebrahim Raisi, the White House described him as 'a man who had a lot of blood on his hands'.
This remark was made by White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby while responding to a question during a routine briefing Monday if the U.S. will be sending a delegation to the Iranian president's funeral.
'President Raisi was responsible for atrocious human rights in his own country - the arrest and the physical violence against hundreds of protesters, for instance. And, of course, he was responsible for the support that Iran provided to terrorist networks throughout the region, which obviously led to - the support that he'd given Hamas led to the slaughter of 1,200 innocent Israeli people on the 7th of October,' Kirby told reporters.
He dismissed Iranian officials' allegations that U.S. sanctions limiting aviation parts and supplies to Iran is partly to blame for the crash as 'utterly baseless.'
Kirby added that every country has a responsibility to ensure the safety and reliability of its equipment, and that includes civil aviation. 'And it's not surprising, sadly, but not surprising that the Iranian regime would once again find a way to try to blame the United States for problems of its own making.'
Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian died in a helicopter crash on Sunday.
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