Today, Saturday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry commented on the election of conservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi as Iran's president, describing him as the "most extremist" leader in Iran's history.
"Iran's new president, known as the butcher of Tehran, is an extremist responsible for killing thousands of Iranians, and is committed to the regime's nuclear ambitions and its campaign of global terrorism," Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said on Twitter.
Ministry spokesman Lior Hayat also wrote on Twitter that Raisi is "the most extreme Iranian president to date," adding that he is committed to rapid progress in Iran's military nuclear program.
Raisi won the presidency of the Iranian Republic after obtaining more than 60% of the Iranian vote, according to the final results announced by Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, and the current president, Hassan Rouhani, is scheduled to hand over his position to the new president after 45 days.
A major election comes as his country has been participating, for several weeks, in meetings in Vienna under the auspices of the European Union and the United States, which aim for Washington's return to the nuclear agreement in exchange for the lifting of sanctions on Tehran, and the latter's reversal of the measures it had taken to reduce its nuclear commitments.
But Israel strongly rejects the American return to the nuclear agreement, and says that it will not be bound by an agreement that would enable Iran to develop nuclear weapons.
Israel believes that Iran has been violating the terms of the agreement and is working to acquire a nuclear weapon, while Tehran denies that it has ambitions in this regard, and says that its program is designed for peaceful purposes.