NEW DELHI: The United Nations Security Council, including representatives from the United States, paid tribute to the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his delegation by observing a minute of silence during their Monday meeting. Raisi and other officials lost their lives in a tragic helicopter accident.
Mozambique’s UN ambassador, Pedro Comissario Afonso, who currently holds the rotating Council presidency for the month of May, requested that the members stand and maintain a moment of silence ‘in remembrance of the loss of life in a crash of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raisi’ and his team.
However, the gesture was swiftly denounced by Israel’s UN representative, Gilad Erdan, who described it as a “disgrace.”
In a video message shared on the social media platform X, Erdan expressed his disbelief, stating, “You saw correctly. The UN Security Council dedicated a moment of silence in memory of the mass murdering president of Iran, Raisi. What a disgrace.”

Erdan, who has been increasingly vocal in his criticism of the United Nations following Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, further added, “The Security Council has become a threat to global peace and security.”