The State Department offered its condolences Monday after the deaths of two Iranian leaders, including the Islamic Republic’s president, a ‘baffling’ move considering Iran’s well-known human rights abuses, a human rights lawyer says.

In a statement, the agency expressed ‘its official condolences for the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian, and other members of their delegation in a helicopter crash in northwest Iran.’

‘As Iran selects a new president, we reaffirm our support for the Iranian people and their struggle for human rights and fundamental freedoms,’ agency spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

Raisi and Amirabdollahian were killed Sunday after their helicopter crashed in the Dizmar Forest in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province on Sunday. Raisi was returning to Tehran after traveling to Iran’s border with Azerbaijan to inaugurate a dam with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.

Iran’s state-run news agency, IRNA, said the crash killed eight people, including three crew members aboard the Bell helicopter, which Iran purchased in the early 2000s.

Raisi was nicknamed the ‘Butcher of Tehran’ for his oversight of mass executions of political prisoners in 1988, which forced Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to install interim leadership for Iran’s executive branch.

‘He’s been responsible for the incarceration, torture, rape and murder of tens of thousands of people over the last few decades,’ Gerard Filitti, senior counsel with the Lawfare Project, which provides pro bono legal services to protect the civil and human rights of Jewish people worldwide, told Fox News Digital. ‘Raisi is not a man who will be missed.’

‘While it is understandable for the State Department to issue condolences when there is the death of a foreign head of state, it’s baffling that someone who has such an atrocious record of violating human rights, supporting global terrorism, targeting the United States and allies, is someone who is receiving this outpouring of condolences, effectively from the United States government,’ he added. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the State Department for further comment but has not yet heard back.

Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania’s minister of foreign affairs, said condolences to Raisi would be inappropriate given Tehran’s alliance with Russia.

‘I don’t feel comfortable sending condolences while Iran is sending drones that are used against civilians in Ukraine,’ he wrote on social media.

Iran, an Islamic theocracy, has long cracked down on dissent from its citizens and has been known for its human rights abuses, including jailing people for dancing, social media activity and women who break the country’s strict dress code. 

‘There’s no secret that Iran violates human rights. It’s a matter of its practice to rule according to its interpretation of religious law, and that leaves little room for what we understand as civil rights or human rights in the western democratic context,’ Filitti said. 

He noted that the Biden administration has embarked on a strategy of trying to appease Tehran with regard to nuclear deal negotiations and freeing up billions of dollars that Iran uses to conduct terror attacks and abuse its citizens.

‘It’s really troubling that now we’re seeing, effectively, a continuation of that. Both in offering condolences for the loss of Raisi, but mostly likely, continuing to work with the next regime on the same failed strategy of appeasement,’ said Filitti.

The United Nations Security Council also honored Raisi on Monday with a moment of silence. The observation came after a request from Russia, China and Algeria, Iran’s Permanent Mission to the U.N. said. 

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller was asked by a reporter during a press briefing why the U.S. participated in the moment of silence for Raisi at the U.N. meeting. 

‘We have been quite clear that Ebrahim Raisi was a brutal participant in the repression of the Iranian people for nearly four decades. He was involved in numerous horrific human rights abuses, including playing a key role in the extrajudicial killing of thousands of political prisoners in 1988. Some of the worst human rights abuses occurred during his tenure as president, especially the human rights abuses against the women and girls of Iran,’ Miller explained. ‘That said, we regret any loss of life. We don’t want to see anyone die in a helicopter crash. But that doesn’t change the reality of his record, both as a judge and as the president of Iran.’

‘The Iranian government & people express gratitude for the UNSC’s condolences & solidarity,’ the mission posted on X. 

U.S. Senate Chaplain Barry Black also acknowledged Raisi’s death during his invocation. 

‘And Lord, we pray for the Iranian people who mourn the death of their president,’ he said.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday called for ‘decent nations’ to defund the International Criminal Court (ICC) after a court prosecutor filed applications for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leaders for alleged ‘war crimes.’ 

Prosecutor Karim Khan said his office had collected evidence to give ‘reasonable grounds’ to believe Netanyahu and Gallant ‘bear criminal responsibility for… war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of the State of Palestine.’ 

Khan said those alleged crimes include ‘starvation of civilians as a method of warfare’ and ‘intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population.’  

He said he is also seeking arrest warrants for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, its top political leader Ismail Haniyeh, and its military commander Mohammed Deif. 

Bennet said the prosecutor’s request was ‘a moment of shame for the ICC and the world community’ and provided ‘a huge boost to global Jihadi terror.’

‘An ICC that compares the executor of a deliberate murderous attack that included raping women and burning babies, with those who are defending themselves against it, is better off not existing,’ Bennett said. ‘It’s time for the decent nations to defund the ICC.’ 

He included the hashtag: ‘DefundTheICC.’

Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders condemned the move as disgraceful and antisemitic. U.S. President Joe Biden also lambasted the prosecutor and supported Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas.

A panel of three judges will decide whether to issue the arrest warrants and allow a case to proceed. The judges typically take two months to make such decisions.

Israel is not a member of the court, so even if the arrest warrants are issued, Netanyahu and Gallant do not face any immediate risk of prosecution. But the threat of arrest could make it difficult for the Israeli leaders to travel abroad.

Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., deviated from some of his Democratic colleagues and jumped on board with International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan’s move Monday to file applications for arrest warrants against Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leaders for allegedly committing ‘war crimes’ during the conflict in Gaza. 

‘The ICC prosecutor is right,’ Sanders said in a statement Monday afternoon on X. ‘These arrest warrants may or may not be carried out, but it is imperative that the global community uphold international law. Without these standards of decency and morality, this planet may rapidly descend into anarchy, never-ending wars, and barbarism.’

Sanders’ comments come hours after Democratic lawmakers came out largely divided over ICC’s petition.

Sanders also said that in the last several years, ICC issued arrest warrants for multiple political leaders who violated human rights laws and international war policies, including Russian President Vladimir Putin for the Ukraine invasion and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar for the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel. 

Now included on that list is Netanyahu, ‘who, in response, has waged an unprecedented war of destruction against the entire Palestinian people, which has killed or injured more than 5 percent of the population.’

Khan said in a statement Monday that based on evidence collected and examined by his office, he has ‘reasonable grounds’ to believe Netanyahu and Gallant ‘bear criminal responsibility for… war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of the State of Palestine.’ 

He said those alleged crimes include ‘starvation of civilians as a method of warfare’ and ‘intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population.’ 

Meanwhile, House GOP lawmakers called the ICC’s petition for arrest warrants ‘a gift to terrorists around the globe.’ 

‘The ICC’s decision to equate Israel with Hamas as a war criminal is a gift to terrorists around the globe and a slap in the face to the only free-standing democracy in the Middle East,’ House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., the No. 3 House GOP lawmaker, told Fox News Digital. ‘There is no comparison between the deliberate killing, raping, and torturing of thousands of innocent civilians and those who are rightfully defending themselves against it.’

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a statement, ‘In the absence of leadership from the White House, Congress is reviewing all options, including sanctions, to punish the ICC and ensure its leadership faces consequences if they proceed. If the ICC is allowed to threaten Israeli leaders, ours could be next.’

Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman and Liz Elkind contributed to this report. 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene responded to Rep. Jasmine Crockett on Monday for seeking to profit off her dust-up with the Georgia Republican during a chaotic House hearing last week.

Crockett’s campaign filed a trademark application on Sunday for the phrase ‘bleach blonde bad built butch body,’ to be used for hats, hoodies, socks, and t-shirts, among other things, according to a document viewed by Fox News Digital.

‘I’m very happy with myself. I turn 50 on Monday, and I’m so excited that I’m still alive and healthy and have done so much in life. And I think no matter what shape, size or how we look, we need to be ourselves, not telling women the only way to be attractive or accepted is to have fake boobs, fake hair, fake lashes, and injected faces,’ Greene told Fox News Digital. ‘I mean, we all wear makeup and do lashes and stuff sometimes, but it’s out of control. Women need a better message for women.’

Tensions ran high at last week’s late night House Oversight Committee meeting to advance a contempt of Congress resolution against Attorney General Merrick Garland.

At one point, Crockett criticized Greene’s line of inquiry to fellow Democrats on the committee, to which Greene responded, ‘I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.’

It prompted a flurry of jeers from Crockett’s fellow Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who forced the panel to vote on whether Greene could speak further. 

Just as Greene was recognized, Crockett asked Comer for clarification, ‘I’m just curious, just to better understand your ruling, if someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody’s bleach blonde bad built butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct?’

A day later, Crockett announced ‘A Crockett Clapback Collection’ that would ‘feature various swag that includes random things I’ve said.’

‘The money will go to ensuring that we have a Democratic House!’ she wrote X, formerly Twitter, accompanied by a photo of a male model wearing a black shirt emblazoned with her remarks about Greene.

Greene appeared to indirectly respond with a video of herself on the platform lifting weights, lauding herself as ‘built and strong.’

Crockett, meanwhile, accused Greene of racism during a recent CNN interview. She mentioned Greene’s comment about her eyelashes.

A spokesperson for Greene said, ‘The only person who has made this about color is Jasmine Crockett when she attacked MTG’s hair.’

The spokesperson also pointed out that Crockett’s new fundraising venture comes after multiple Democrats accused House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., of fundraising off of that hearing and other committee proceedings.

At one point, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the top Democrat on the committee, said in the hearing, ‘There is an ethics principle that no solicitation of a campaign or political contribution may be linked to an action taken or to be taken by a member or employee in his or her official capacity. That’s just a reminder to my side. I hope that nobody is linking specific actions that you’re taking on the Oversight Committee to campaign contributions or solicitations.’

The Greene spokesman accused Democrats of ‘pure hypocrisy.’

But Crockett’s office responded to Fox News Digital, ‘The condemnation of Comer’s email was not merely because it referred the Committee, but rather because the content within it that clearly violates ethics rules.’

‘In contrast, Rep. Crockett did not engage in an official act merely by saying these six words and one would be hard pressed to find how these six words could be found as one,’ Crockett’s office added.

Fox News Digital reached out to Raskin’s office to ask whether his comments extended to Crockett as well. Fox News Digital also reached out to Crockett’s campaign for a response to Greene.

Amal Clooney, wife of actor George Clooney, was among the experts who advised the International Criminal Court (ICC) in seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar over alleged war crimes. 

The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, asked Clooney, 46, to assist him with evaluating evidence of suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel and the Gaza Strip, where Israeli military forces have been operating since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

‘I agreed and joined a panel of international legal experts to undertake this task,’ Clooney, an attorney, said in a lengthy statement on the Clooney Foundation for Justice website. 

 The ICC determined it has jurisdiction over crimes committed by Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, its top political leader Ismail Haniyeh and its military commander Mohammed Deif, as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

‘We unanimously conclude that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, including hostage-taking, murder and crimes of sexual violence,’ Clooney wrote of the panel’s determination.

She cited Israeli war crimes of ‘starvation as a method of warfare, murder, persecution and extermination.’

‘As a human rights lawyer, I will never accept that one child’s life has less value than another’s. I do not accept that any conflict should be beyond the reach of the law, nor that any perpetrator should be above the law,’ she wrote.

‘So I support the historic step that the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has taken to bring justice to victims of atrocities in Israel and Palestine,’ Clooney added. 

Clooney is married to actor George Clooney, who is a well-known supporter of President Biden. The Biden campaign enlisted George Clooney, as well as actress Julia Roberts and former President Obama for a star-studded fundraiser in Los Angeles next month. 

George Clooney will appear in social media posts and digital ads in support of President Biden.

Amal Clooney was joined on the panel by legal experts in international humanitarian and criminal law. Two members are former judges at criminal tribunals at The Hauge. 

Meanwhile, Netanyahu called the ICC’s decision the latest example of ‘what the new antisemitism looks like.’ 

‘It is directed against the IDF soldiers, who are fighting with extraordinary heroism against the vile Hamas murderers who attacked us with terrible cruelty on Oct. 7,’ Netanyahu said in an English-language statement.

‘What a travesty of justice! What a disgrace!’ he said. 

President Biden is condemning the International Criminal Court’s (ICC’s) decision to pursue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as ‘outrageous.’

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan announced earlier Monday that his office has ‘reasonable grounds’ to believe Netanyahu, Gallant and Hamas leaders have committed ‘war crimes and crimes against humanity’ since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7. 

‘The ICC prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous,’ Biden said in a statement issued Monday afternoon.

‘And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas,’ Biden added. ‘We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security,’ the president continued.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken also took aim at the ICC’s announcement, saying in a separate statement Monday that the State Department rejects the ‘[p]rosecutor’s equivalence of Israel with Hamas,’ calling it ‘shameful.’

‘The United States has been clear since well before the current conflict that that ICC has no jurisdiction over this matter. The ICC was established by its state parties as a court of limited jurisdiction. Those limits are rooted in principles of complementarity, which do not appear to have been applied here amid the Prosecutor’s rush to seek these arrest warrants rather than allowing the Israeli legal system a full and timely opportunity to proceed,’ Blinken argued. 

Blinken noted that in other matters, ‘the Prosecutor deferred to national investigations and worked with states to allow them time to investigate’ and ‘did not afford the same opportunity to Israel, which has ongoing investigations into allegations against its personnel.’

‘There are also deeply troubling process questions. Despite not being a member of the court, Israel was prepared to cooperate with the Prosecutor. In fact, the Prosecutor himself was scheduled to visit Israel as early as next week to discuss the investigation and hear from the Israeli Government,’ Blinken continued. ‘The Prosecutor’s staff was supposed to land in Israel today to coordinate the visit. Israel was informed that they did not board their flight around the same time that the Prosecutor went on cable television to announce the charges. These and other circumstances call into question the legitimacy and credibility of this investigation.’ 

The decision also ‘does nothing to help, and could jeopardize, ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement that would get hostages out and surge humanitarian assistance in, which are the goals the United States continues to pursue relentlessly,’ Blinken said.

A top House Republican leader is accusing the International Criminal Court (ICC) of equating Israel’s democratically elected government with terror group Hamas after its chief prosecutor petitioned for arrest warrants against top officials in both.

‘The ICC’s decision to equate Israel with Hamas as a war criminal is a gift to terrorists around the globe and a slap in the face to the only free-standing democracy in the Middle East,’ House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., the No. 3 House GOP lawmaker, told Fox News Digital. ‘There is no comparison between the deliberate killing, raping, and torturing of thousands of innocent civilians and those who are rightfully defending themselves against it.’

He’s one of several pro-Israel lawmakers who have called for the ICC to face consequences over the developments. Others are calling for the U.S. to take action directly against the international judicial body.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a statement, ‘In the absence of leadership from the White House, Congress is reviewing all options, including sanctions, to punish the ICC and ensure its leadership faces consequences if they proceed. If the ICC is allowed to threaten Israeli leaders, ours could be next.’

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan announced on Monday morning that he believes there are ‘reasonable grounds’ to accuse Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant of ‘war crimes and crimes against humanity’ in the Gaza strip.

Among the charges Khan listed are the intentional targeting of civilians and ‘starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.’ 

He’s also seeking arrest warrants for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, top Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, and Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, the head of Hamas’s military wing – known as the Al-Qassam Brigades – over the Palestinian liberation group’s Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack in Israel.

It’s prompted a flurry of outrage from Israel’s defenders in Washington, many of whom pointed out that Israel, like the U.S., is not under ICC jurisdiction. The Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank, however, joined in 2015.

Emmer went a step further in his condemnation on Monday, declaring, ‘It’s time for the rest of the world to defund and refuse to recognize any legitimacy from a pro-terrorist international court.’

Meanwhile, Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., suggested ICC officials should be banned from setting foot in the U.S. 

‘There is no legal or legislative basis for these charges,’ he told Fox News Digital, vowing that Congressional Republicans ‘will push to end American support for the ICC and bar their officials from entering our country.’

Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., urged President Biden to stand up against the Israel arrest warrants.

‘The ICC is a sham kangaroo court that’s drawing a moral equivalency between our ally Israel and the Hamas terrorists who are currently holding U.S. citizens hostage. This is why I co-sponsored legislation to sanction the ICC if it goes after Americans and our allies,’ he told Fox News Digital.

House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., who was in Israel meeting with Netanyahu when the news first broke Monday, is also urging Congress to mount a legislative response.

She said her bill would ‘punish those in the ICC that made this baseless, undemocratic decision.’

On the other side of Capitol Hill, pro-Israel hawks in the Senate are equally furious.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said the charges against Netanyahu and Gallant are ‘politically motivated’ and warned, ‘My colleagues and I look forward to making sure neither Khan, his associates nor their families will ever set foot again in the United States.’

The top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said in a statement, ‘Today’s actions have hurt the credibility of the court and seriously harmed legitimate accountability efforts where true war crimes are occurring, like Ukraine, Syria, and across Africa.’

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., accused Khan of lying about his intentions. He said in a statement, ‘Prosecutor Khan’s team was supposed to be in Israel today to arrange a meeting for next week with the prosecutor’s office about the allegations. I was told by ICC staff that the investigation would likely take months and not weeks, and that there would be meaningful consultation with the State of Israel. Instead of the ICC following through with scheduled consultations with Israel, they announced the warrants.’

Even Democrats up to the White House condemned the move – President Biden slammed the ICC’s warrants against Israel as ‘outrageous.’

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., wrote on X, formerly Twitter: ‘Requesting arrest warrants for both Israel and Hamas leaders suggests there is a moral equivalence between them – there is none and it’s disgusting to suggest otherwise. The ICC’s credibility is now in shambles and they have only themselves to thank.’