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‘Butcher of Tehran’ elected as president

Ebrahim Raisi is widely accused of presiding over Iran's mass-executions in 1988 – and is a close ally of those who want to wipe Israel off the map

June 20, 2021 11:20
Raisi
TOPSHOT - A woman holds a poster of Iran's newly-elected president Ebrahim Raisi, with text in Persian reading "government of the people, strong Iran", as supporters celebrate his victory in Imam Hussein square in the capital Tehran on June 19, 2021. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

ByJC Reporter

1 min read

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has called the election of “butcher of Tehran” Ebrahim Raisi as the new president of Iran as a “final wake-up call for the West”.

Mr Raisi is a staunch ally of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has repeatedly called for the elimination of Israel and, in 2018, described the country as a "cancerous tumour".

A spokesman for Israel's foreign ministry, Lior Haiat, wrote that the hardline judge, who is under US sanctions for alleged human rights abuses, was Iran’s “most extremist president to date”.

Mr Haiat said that Mr Raisi was committed to Iran’s rapidly advancing military nuclear programme, and “his election makes clear Iran's true malign intentions”.