Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

Some Republicans in Congress are celebrating the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and seven others in Iran’s mountainous East Azerbaijan province.

When the news first broke that Raisi was missing, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) wrote on X: “If Raisi is dead, the world is now a safer & better place. That evil man was a tyrant & terrorist. He was not loved or respected & he will be missed by no one. If he’s gone, I truly hope the Iranian people have the chance to take their country back from murderous dictators.”

After Raisi’s death was confirmed, the State Department offered condolences to Iran, which outraged Scott. “What a disgrace. Since when does the United States issue a statement of condolence for a terrorist?! It should read: The world is a better place with Raisi dead,” he said.

Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) made similar comments in response to the news about Raisi. “Good riddance. Raisi was a murderous human rights abuser before and during his Presidency,” he wrote on X. “But look for the Iranian regime to blame Israel and the US for an assassination as another excuse to support terrorism.”

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) released a statement where he called Raisi one of Iran’s “bloodiest hard-liners.“

So far, Iranian authorities have not offered much detail about the crash, but said it was caused by a “technical failure.” Raisi was traveling in a US-made Bell 212 helicopter.

According to The Washington Post, the average age of Iran’s Bell 212 helicopters is 35 years old, and they are difficult for the Islamic Republic to maintain due to US sanctions.

State Department spokesman Matt Miller said that the US would not apologize to Iran for imposing aircraft-related sanctions.

“We are not gonna apologize for our sanctions regime at all. The Iranian government has used its aircraft to transport equipment to support terrorism. So we will continue to fully enforce our sanctions regime, including our sanctions regime on aircraft for use by the Iranian government,” he told Rudaw.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) calls for direct strikes on Iran, because “the only thing Iranians understand is strength.” Which is exactly the same tired folk logic that anti-Russia hawks always use — the only language that meddlesome subspecies understands is cruise missiles pic.twitter.com/hla1NIuX4Y

— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) January 29, 2024

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has confirmed that Vice President Mohammad Mokhber is now Iran’s acting president and said, per the Iranian constitution, he has 50 days to arrange for new elections.