Who is Iranian President Raisi? A terror master who oversaw mass execution of between 5,000 and 30,000 Iranians

What exactly does U.S. President Joe Biden not understand about Iran’s terrorist leaders?

Why did Biden so strongly support former President Barack Obama giving upwards of $150 billion in sanctions relief to the Iranian regime in 2015 in return for a nuclear deal that did not require Tehran to dismantle must less destroy its illegal nuclear program?

Why did Biden enthusiastically stand by the deal when everyone knew that the Iranian leadership couldn’t be trusted, had a history of cheating on nuclear agreements, were certain to cheat on this new one, and were certain to use that new funding to support anti-American, anti-Israel, and anti-Arab terrorist groups, from Hezbollah to Hamas to the Houthis (which, in fact, is exactly what happened)?

Why hasn’t Biden learned any lessons about Iranian intentions since then – especially when the Mossad stole Iran’s nuclear archives in 2018 and proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that Tehran has been actively developing plans to build nuclear weapons and thus has been lying that nuclear weapons are forbidden by their Supreme Leader? (In fact, earlier this year, an Iranian Grand Ayatollah actually admitted that there is no real fatwa banning the development of nuclear weapons in his country.)

Why has Biden been pushing so hard for a second nuclear deal with Iran, and been so eager to lift economic sanctions on the most dangerous terror regime in the world, when the new deal “would allow Tehran to access up to $275 billion in financial benefits during its first year in effect and $1 trillion by 2030,” according to a sobering analysis by the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies?

Does Biden purposefully ignore the intelligence about how dangerous these leaders are, does he not believe the intelligence, or does he simply not care?

WHO EXACTLY IS EBRAHIM RAISI AND WHY SHOULD HE HAVE NEVER BEEN ALLOWED TO SET FOOT IN THE U.S.?

Such questions come into sharp relief this week.

Why?

Because Ebrahim Raisi – the extremist Shia cleric was named the head of Iran’s judiciary in 2019 and then emerged as president of Iran in 2021 – has just landed in New York City.

Raisi is expected to address the opening of the fall session of the United Nations General Assembly and to hold side meetings with various leaders from all over the world.

This is insane.

There is no reason in the world that Biden should have authorized Raisi to obtain a visa to set foot in the United States.

To the contrary, Biden should have adamantly denied Raisi a visa.

Or ordered that Raisi be arrested by federal authorities immediately upon landing.

Why?

Because Ebrahim is one of the terror masters of Tehran.

RAISI IS ALLEGED TO HAVE COMMITTED GENOCIDE

Raisi is currently on the U.S. Treasury Department’s sanctions list for a range of ghastly crimes.

He was placed on the sanctions list in 2019 as one of nine Iranian officials who has “acted for or on behalf of, Ali Khamenei, the Iranian regime’s unelected Supreme Leader whose office is responsible for advancing Iran’s radical agenda,” stated the Treasury Department. 

It further noted that Raisi is one of “Khamenei’s military and foreign affairs advisors who have for decades oppressed the Iranian people, exported terrorism, and advanced destabilizing policies around the world.”

For starters, Raisi is alleged to have overseen the mass execution of between 5,000 and 30,000 Iranian citizens, dissidents and political opponents of the Iranian regime back in 1988. 

Several years ago, members of the late Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri’s family put out an audio recording of him criticizing these executions as “the biggest crime in the history of the Islamic Republic,” reported the Associated Press.

The U.S. Institute of Peace called the mass executions “an extra-judicial massacre that raised to the level of a crime against humanity.”

Amnesty International also called the 1988 mass executions “crimes against humanity.”

Genocide Watch said, “the current President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, was one of the four judges who ordered the execution of over 30,000 Iranian prisoners in 1988….Most of the people murdered were members of a minority Islamic religious sect persecuted by the Iranian regime, making the murders acts of genocide.”

That would be sickening enough – but there’s more.

RAISI OVERSEES THE EXECUTION OF CHILDREN

Raisi was also sanctioned “for his administrative oversight of the executions of individuals who were juveniles at the time of their crime and the torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment of prisoners in Iran, including amputations,” just as the previous head of Iran’s judiciary had been sanctioned.

“According to a United Nations report, Iran’s Judiciary sanctioned the execution of seven child offenders last year, and two so far in 2019, despite human rights law prohibitions against the death penalty for anyone under age 18,” the Treasury Department stated. “There are at least 90 child offenders currently on death row in Iran. In addition, between September 2018 and July 2019, at least eight prominent lawyers were arrested for defending political prisoners and human rights defenders, many of whom have received lengthy sentences by Iran’s Judiciary.”

RAISI HELPED CRUSH PRO-DEMOCRACY PROTESTERS IN 2009

If all that weren’t horrible enough, “Raisi was involved in the regime’s brutal crackdown on Iran’s Green Movement protests that followed the chaotic and disorderly 2009 election,” the Treasury Department alleged.

“In addition to his notorious role in the 1988 massacre, he [Raisi] is known as a key player in repression of the Green Movement in 2009,” noted the U.S. Institute of Peace. “As the first deputy of the judiciary, he championed a campaign including the arrest, torture and execution of protestors.”

The Institute also noted that “Iran had one of the highest per capita rates of capital punishment in the world in 2020” and is actively involved in the torture of political prisoners.

MY CONVERSATION WITH NEWSMAX ABOUT IRAN’S PRESIDENT

I pressed these points yesterday during an interview with two Newsmax TV anchors, and Ric Grenell, the former U.S. ambassador to Germany and former Director of National Intelligence.

ROB FINNERTY: The United Nations General Assembly is going to start later today with the head of the United Nations warning that the world is “in great peril.” This is the first time that global leaders are going to meet in New York City in three years.

ALISON MALONI: More on this, and the two-year anniversary of the signing of the Abraham Accords. Let’s welcome the editor-in-chief of ALL ISRAEL NEWS and ALL ARAB NEWS, Joel Rosenberg. Joel, good morning.

ROSENBERG: Good morning. How are you guys?

MALONI: Great.

FINNERTY: Joel, welcome. We have a big day today. A big week. The U.N. General Assembly starts – one of the first times we’ve had an in-person General Assembly. What do you expect to happen specifically on the all-important issue of Iran?

ROSENBERG: Well, I think it’s a travesty, actually, that the Biden administration has even given a visa to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. This is a man who is under U.S. sanctions right now because he was involved in murdering upwards of 30,000 Iranian citizens. 

Now, the Biden administration has put our strategic alliance with Saudi Arabia in flux, in question, because of the allegation that the Saudi crown prince may have possibly known, or even ordered, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident. There is no proof of that, but that’s what Biden has alleged, even apparently to MBS’ face. 

But he has no problem dealing with – even giving a visa to – [Raisi,] a man who has murdered upwards of 30,000 of his own citizens, and allowed the Iranian police to beat and kill an Iranian woman protester [last week]. 

This is insane. 

The nuclear deal is insane, that you would try to make a deal with a regime that’s cheated at every single turn. 

Why? 

Why is the Biden administration more willing to deal with an enemy than be close to its allies?

FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR RIC GRENELL: Hi, Joel. So, President Biden is not going to be making a speech today. He’s going to speak tomorrow. Apparently, he was tired after his trip back from Great Britain. Typically, the U.S. president goes in the second slot [on Day One]. So, because of the time change, and he’s 79 years old, he’s going to speak tomorrow. 

But the Iranian president is already saying that he’s not going to meet with Joe Biden in private at the U.N. in New York. What do you make of that and the Iranian president getting in front of that before he had the opportunity to have this possible meeting?

ROSENBERG: Well, look, Raisi is a murderer, right? He’s a terrorist. And no wonder the Ayatollah, the Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei, wants him to be the head of the Iranian state government. 

Why? 

Because he [Raisi] is part of the terror masters of Tehran.

Of course Raisi doesn’t want to meet with President Biden. He and the Ayatollah believe that the United States is the “Great Satan.” This is what they say. This is what they believe. 

I’m launching a new TV show on TBN on October 6, prime time, the first-ever show from Israel from the Middle East in prime time every week. That’s “The Rosenberg Report.” We’re going to be covering these issues – not because you guys aren’t, but because there hasn’t been a show that covers these things in real time from the region. 

But I’ve just got to tell you that it’s crazy that Biden would even let this man into the country. He is already on the sanctions list.

GRENELL: So, Joel, you know, from my experience, even the Bush administration and other administrations have always let in heads of state, even controversial ones. I mean, I’ve been in the U.N. General Assembly watching North Korean leaders, Iranian leaders. So, I think that it’s pretty typical to allow them to come here. 

But my real question to you is, on the Iran deal, the key negotiators are the Europeans. I mean, what we see from Joe Biden is that the opposite of America First. It’s “consensus” with the Europeans. Consensus is obviously a good idea, but when it drags us down, it’s a bad idea. 

What is your message to the Europeans? Because I think the Americans understand what’s happening on this Iran deal and the negotiations, but the Europeans are the weak link. How do you get the Europeans to be stronger?

ROSENBERG: President Trump did it right, which was this: You let the Europeans follow the American lead. President Trump ripped up the Iran nuclear deal because it was bad for America. It happened to be also bad for Israel, where I live and I’m a dual citizen. It’s bad for our Arab allies. And they’re screaming at the top of their lungs – behind closed doors – “Don’t go there. Don’t make a deal with the devil. You’ve already done it once. It didn’t work. Don’t do it again.”

Now, when President Trump, rightly – and, I would say, courageously – tore up that deal, he said, “We’re going to put unilateral sanctions on Iran. If a business in Europe or anywhere else wants to do business with the United States, then don’t do business with Iran.” So then, of course, Europe followed. 

But this “lead from behind” approach? 

Remember, Biden was the No. 2 behind the guy [President Obama] that made that line famous, “America will lead from behind.” It doesn’t work.

MALONI: Absolutely. Joel Rosenberg, unfortunately, we’re out of time. Thank you so much. I’m looking forward to watching your new show. Appreciate it.

FINNERTY: Thanks, Joel. 

ROSENBERG: My pleasure. Thank you, guys.