State Department official mourns late Iranian president

A State Department official is mourning the loss of an Iranian leader with “American blood on his hands” who had called for Israel’s destruction.

Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former Iranian president who died Sunday, drew condolences from the unnamed official.

“Former Pres. Rafsanjani has been a prominent figure throughout the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the official told Al Monitor. “We send our condolences to his family and loved ones.”

Eric Trager, a Middle East expert at the Washington Institute, responded, “Condolences for a man with American blood on his hands. Unreal.”

The State Department’s short statement ignores that Rafsanjani was president when agents of Iran killed 19 American service members in the 1996 bombings of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Rafsanjani called for Israel’s destruction in 2001.

“If one day the Islamic world is also equipped with weapons like those that Israel possesses now, then the imperialists’ strategy will reach a standstill because the use of even one nuclear bomb inside Israel will destroy everything,” the Iranian leader said ...Read More HERE