(Paris) Sober or openly distressed reactions: the world reacts Monday to the death in a helicopter accident of Iranian President Ebrahim Raïssi and his Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian with other officials of the Islamic Republic, the heavyweight of the Middle East.
UNITED STATES
The late Iranian president “was a man who had a lot of blood on his hands […], responsible for atrocious violations of human rights,” commented a White House spokesperson, John Kirby.
Before that, the State Department had presented the “condolences” of the United States in a press release. “We reaffirm our support for the Iranian people and their struggle for human rights and fundamental freedoms,” he added.
OIC
The Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (57 countries), Hissein Brahim Taha, “expresses his sincere condolences and sympathy to the Iranian government and people.”
HIM
The UN Security Council observed a minute of silence in memory of the Iranian president and his foreign minister.
The Council “extends its condolences and sympathy to their families and to the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” said Mozambique Ambassador Pedro Comissario Afonso, President-in-Office, before all representatives rose, including the Deputy United States Ambassador Robert Wood.
Gulf Cooperation Council
Jassem Al-Budaiwi, secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council bringing together six Arab monarchies neighboring Iran including Saudi Arabia, offers his condolences after this “tragic accident”, reaffirming “the solidarity of the GCC with the government and the people Iranians in these difficult circumstances.
The leaders of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain, members of the GCC, each offered their “deepest condolences” to the people and government of Iran.
NATO
“Our condolences to the Iranian people for the death of President Raïssi, Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian, and other people who perished in the helicopter accident,” writes Atlantic Alliance spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah, on the social network
European Union
European Council President Charles Michel presents the EU’s “sincere condolences”. “Our thoughts are with their families,” he said in a message on X.
Pope
Pope Francis presented, in a telegram in English, his condolences to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, “assuring” Iran of his “spiritual closeness at this difficult moment”.
Iranian opposition in exile
For Maryam Rajavi, president of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI, an opposition group in exile and political showcase of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran), it is a “monumental and irreparable strategic blow to the guide supreme leader of the mullahs, Ali Khamenei, and the entire regime, known for its executions and massacres.”
United Kingdom
“The United Kingdom’s priority is to work with international partners to continue to work to maintain and promote regional stability,” simply noted a spokesperson for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Hamas
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas presents its “condolences” to the Iranian people, hailing Ebrahim Raïssi as “support for the Palestinian resistance” particularly since the start of the current war in Gaza with Israel.
Hezbollah
Hezbollah in Lebanon offers its condolences to Iranian leaders, calling Ebrahim Raïssi a “protector of resistance movements” against Israel in the region. “The martyred president was a big brother for us, a solid support.”
Houthis
Yemen’s Houthi rebels, supported by Iran, deplore “a loss not only for Iran but also for the entire Islamic world, for Palestine and for Gaza.”
China
For President Xi Jinping, this “tragic death is a great loss for the Iranian people” and the Chinese people have “lost a good friend”, according to Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin. He “made important contributions to maintaining Iran’s security and stability, promoting national development and prosperity, and also made efforts to consolidate and develop the strategic partnership between China and Iran.”
Russia
President Vladimir Putin pays tribute in a telegram of condolences to a “remarkable politician”, adding: “As a true friend of Russia, he made an invaluable personal contribution to the development of good neighborly relations between our countries and deployed great efforts to bring them to the level of strategic partnership.”
Türkiye
“I pray for God’s mercy for my dear colleague and brother” Ebrahim Raïssi, reacts to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on X, expressing his “most sincere condolences to the Iranian people and government, friends and brothers”.
Syria
President Bashar al-Assad offers his condolences to Iran, which has supported him since the start of his country’s civil war 13 years ago.
“Syria stands in solidarity with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” according to his message. “We worked with the late president to ensure that the strategic relations between Syria and Iran remained prosperous.” Syria, like Lebanon, proclaimed an official three-day mourning period.
Iraq
“We extend our condolences to the Supreme Leader of the Republic of Iran Ali Khamenei and to the government and people of Iran,” said Prime Minister Mohamed Chia al-Soudani, expressing his “great sadness and sorrow”.
Hachd al-Chaabi, a coalition of pro-Iran Iraqi armed groups, sends its condolences to the Iranian leaders, stressing that President Raïssi “had always declared that Iraq and Iran formed a single people which cannot be separated”.
Jordan
King Abdullah II presents on
Egypt
“Egypt mourns, with great sadness and deep pain, the president and highest diplomatic official of Iran, who died on Sunday in a painful accident,” the presidency said in a statement.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi expresses “his sincere condolences and sympathy” to the Iranian people.
France
“France presents its condolences to the Islamic Republic of Iran after the death of President Ebrahim Raïssi,” its Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Monday.
Italy
The head of government Giorgia Meloni expressed her “solidarity and the solidarity of Italy with the Iranian government and the Iranian people”, hoping “that the future Iranian leadership will want to commit to the stabilization and pacification of the region “.
Poland
President Andrzej Duda said he was “deeply upset” about X, adding that “few countries have such tragic pages in their history” and recalling that the Poles experienced the crash of their government plane in 2010 in Smolensk in Russia and joined “with special understanding” the relatives of the victims and the Iranian people “in prayer and grief”.
Greece
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Giorgos Gerapetridis, presents his “condolences to the Iranians and the Iranian government” and declares, on a Greek radio, to have “the feeling that despite the slight transitory fluctuations, there will be no change nor in foreign policy [of Iran, Editor’s note] nor in the regional or international reaction towards Iran.
India
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “deeply saddened and shocked”, presents his “sincere condolences to his family and the Iranian people” on
Pakistan
Pakistan declares a day of mourning “in solidarity with Iran”, a “brother” country, according to Prime Minister Shebbaz Sharif on X, adding: “The immense Iranian nation will overcome this tragedy with its usual courage”. Islamabad welcomed the Iranian leader with great fanfare at the end of April.
Malaysia
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said he was “deeply saddened”, stressing that his country would respect his country’s commitment to Iran to strengthen their ties “for the good of our people and the Muslim world”.
Sri Lanka
President Ranil Wickremesinghe, “deeply shocked and saddened”, expresses his “sincere condolences to the devastated families, the government, and the people of Iran”.
South Africa
“This is an extraordinary, unimaginable tragedy in which the remarkable leader of a country with which South Africa enjoys strong bilateral relations has perished,” said President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Kenya
President William Ruto expresses his “deepest condolences” and his “solidarity with the people of Iran”, stressing that Ebrahim Raïssi had chosen Kenya as his first stop to come to the African continent.
African Union
The AU said it was “deeply shocked and saddened” in a statement.
Brazil
President Lula expressed his “sadness”.
