The Biden administration’s reaction to two seemingly unrelated events – coming on the heels of the latest escalation in the Biden administration-supported coup effort against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – reveal its stubborn commitment to its Iran First agenda.

And to the great shame of America.

First, on May 20th Iran’s president and foreign minister were found dead in a helicopter crash during a return trip from the Iran-Azerbaijan border.

Needless to say the world is a better place with a monster such as Raisi removed from it.

This was a person who earned the moniker, the Butcher of Tehran.Raisi, a U.S.-sanctioned figure seen as a potential successor to the evil theocrat, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei oversaw the execution of thousands of political prisoners in the 1980s; he cracked down on the Green Movement protests in 2009; he brutally suppressed the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protestors of recent years; this was a man who has presided over Iran’s race to a nuclear bomb; its hundreds of attacks by proxy on U.S. forces; its aerial invasion of Israel following Iran-backed Hamas’ October 7th Holocaust-in-a-day; and continued threats against Israeli, the U.S., and our allies and partners in the near and far abroad.

So how did the Biden administration respond?

Well, when the UN Security Council held a moment of silence for this monster, U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood stood up in solidarity with our adversaries to honor him.

The Biden State Department extended its “official condolences” in a statement.

When pressed on why the administration offered condolences for an Iranian president responsible for terrorizing Americans, Israelis, Iranians, and countless other innocents, a White House spokesperson said:

No question this was a man who had a lot of blood on his hands.  That said, as we would in any other case, we certainly regret in general the loss of life, and offered official condolences as appropriate.

Why do this?

Politico tells us everything we need to know about the Biden administration’s thinking in a reported piece titled “The one thing US fears after Iranian president’s death.”

What did it fear?

That Tehran might quickly allege that Israel and the U.S. had sabotaged the transport, even though there was no initial intelligence to suggest anything other than a crash in bad weather.

For a little while, it was not a crazy question to ask ‘Is this how World War III begins?’” said one of the officials.

The U.S. even offered to help Iran in the recovery effort – treating the regime that chants “Death to America” like an ally.

Remember when the Biden administration furiously rushed to distance itself from likely Israel’s strike on Iranian assets in Syria – a strike that preceded Iran’s unprecedented attack on Israel?

Remember when the Biden administration worked overtime to de-link Iran from the October 7th attack perpetrated by its proxy Hamas?

Remember when the Biden administration imposed only the cosmetic sanctions on the Houthis in response to their maritime blockade and repeated attacks on U.S. assets?

Same principle applies here. The U.S. doesn’t want to provoke and escalate – the idea being that coddling the Khomeinist crocodile will stop it from biting us.

Why? 

Hold that thought.

Within hours of the death of Raisi, International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan announced he was filing applications for warrants of arrest for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defense chief Yoav Gallant, alongside three Hamas leaders, for allegedly starving civilians, intentionally targeting civilians, and engaging in other crimes against humanity – making Israel’s leaders equivalent to Hamas’ genocidal jihadists. 

In a lesser-noticed act, Khan rendered Israel less legitimate than its would-be destroyers by referring to “crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of Israel and the State of Palestine.”

The Biden administration reacted in false outrage in my view. Sure, it condemned the moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas; sure it said the ICC had no jurisdiction and that its actions raised “deeply troubling process questions.”

Set aside that it’s nearly impossible to believe that with the ICC having telegraphed these warrants were coming, and the Biden administration similarly castigating Israel over its war conduct, that the administration didn’t let this happen.

Where I think the administration was genuine was at the end of its statement, which read:

Fundamentally, this decision 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.

You see, this effort to pursue Israel’s political and military leadership is only likely to make Israel all that much more determined to destroy Hamas and win the war.

And the Biden administration can’t abide that. It wants Israel to effectively surrender to acquiesce to the creation of a Palestinian state to be run by Fatah and Hamas, and all as part and parcel of an effort to create Iran-backed rule over Palestinian Arabs in Gaza and Judea and Samaria, via Hezbollah over the Lebanese, and all throughout the rest of the region to check Israel and protect and promote Iran to hegemony.

The White House seems to have employed minister Benny Gantz and defense chief Gallant who in recent days have publicly come out challenging Netanyahu over the war and post-war plans to threaten to topple him in furtherance of this effort.

More immediately, the Biden administration wants Israel to stand down because it wants Iran to sit tight until the election – lest the region explodes, oil prices rise, the U.S. economy collapses, and Biden loses.

So you see, it’s all about Iran First, in the here and now so Biden can get re-elected, and long-term out of malevolence, naivete, greed, or some combination of all three.