The death of Iran's president: who was Raisi and what is known about his successor
Kyiv • UNN
Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi and other passengers were killed in a plane crash in northwestern Iran, leading Vice President Mohammad Mohber to take over as acting head of Iran until new elections within 50 days.
Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi and other passengers were killed in a helicopter crash in northwestern Iran, their bodies were found and taken to Tabriz. UNN has prepared information about who Raisi was, what the situation in the country is now, and who has become acting head of Iran for the period until the elections.
Ibrahim Raisi
Raisa was 63 years old. He was an ultra-conservative politician. Raisi came to power in 2021, replacing the more moderate Hassan Rouhani as Iran's leader.
He was born in 1960 in Mashhad, the country's second largest city. His family was very religious, and this left an imprint on Raisi's future path: he received a thorough theological education and the title of Hojatoleslam, which literally means "authority in Islam." In Iran's religious hierarchy, this position is second only to the Ayatollah.
Raisi's political career began at the age of 20 in the wake of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. He was then appointed prosecutor of Karaj, a suburb of Tehran. Later, Raisi was a deputy prosecutor in Tehran. At that time, he was actively involved in the trials of political prisoners.
According to human rights activists, about 5,000 people became victims of political reprisals committed in 1988. The United States imposed sanctions on Raisi for his participation in the so-called "death commission." In 1989, Raisi was appointed prosecutor of Tehran.
In 2016, Raisi became the head of Astan Quds Razavi, one of the largest religious foundations in the country.
Raisi first ran for president in 2017 against Hassan Rouhani, who promoted the Iran nuclear deal with world powers that limited the nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Raisi was a critic of the deal. Raisi lost the 2017 election. In the next election in 2021, he won with 62% of the vote, but this happened against the backdrop of an extremely low turnout of 48.8%.
At that time, negotiations on the nuclear deal were suspended, as the United States unilaterally withdrew from it. In addition, the team of then-U.S. President Donald Trump initiated tougher sanctions against Iran.
This has had a negative impact on Iran's economy, and the covid epidemic has dealt another blow.
According to Al Jazeer, Raisi has had close ties to Iran's spiritual leaders and the theocratic elite throughout his political career, and he has also built close relationships with the military and legislators.
However, his tenure as president has been marred by economic woes and escalating internal strife, including a crackdown on civil and religious freedoms. This eventually led to massive protests after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old girl who was detained by the moral police, allegedly for violating the rule of wearing a hijab in public places. Protests continued in Iran for several months, with women removing or burning their hijabs and cutting their hair in protest.
According to foreign human rights organizations, the rallies stopped in mid-2023 after around 500 people were killed when security forces moved in to disperse the protests. Seven people were executed for their involvement in the unrest. A United Nations fact-finding mission in March concluded that Iran committed crimes against humanity during the crackdown, including murder, torture, and rape.
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However, Raisi's tough policy did not stop there: some time after the US withdrew from the nuclear deal negotiations, the Iranian president announced that the country was building up its nuclear program, but it was not interested in creating a bomb.
The Raisi regime also distinguished itself in its confrontation with Israel. It moved from condemning the attack on the Gaza Strip to open confrontation. And on April 15, Iran attacked Israel, with 30 cruise missiles and 170 drones. However, the Israeli side stated that the attack did not cause significant damage.
In contrast to Israel, the Iranian government, led by Raisi, supported the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
In addition, it was under Raisi that cooperation with Russia, to which Iran supplied, in particular, its Shaheed attack drones, developed. There was also a lot of talk that Russia was helping Iran develop its nuclear program, in particular by sending its experts.
Despite his tough and sometimes controversial policies, it was believed that Raisi could run for a second term in office.
Successor
Currently, Mohammad Mohber, who is the vice president of Iran, has taken power into his own hands. He came to this position with the election of Raisi as president.
Mohber holds a master's degree in international law and a doctorate in management.
Mohber was the president of Setad, the Executive Headquarters of the Imam's Directive, a semi-state, semi-religious organization controlled by Iran's supreme leader. International human rights organizations believe that Setad has built an empire on property that was confiscated from dissidents after the 1979 revolution. At the same time, officially, Setad was engaged in, among other things, investments in the country to fight poverty and deliver medicines.
At the same time, in addition to the charity foundation, a pharmaceutical company operates under the patronage of the Setad, which founded the entire pharmaceutical and industrial city of Barkat. It is also believed that Setad still continues to dispose of property confiscated from opponents of the regime.
In July 2010, the European Union included Mohammed Mukhber, as the president of the Setad organization, on its sanctions list. However, two years later, he was removed from the list. At the same time, in 2013, the U.S. Treasury Department added the Setad Foundation and 37 companies under its control to the list of sanctioned entities. One of the reasons was that Setad allegedly finances the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is involved in terrorist activities.
Mohber's connection to Setad, who is directly subordinate to the Iranian religious leader, suggests that the politician has close ties with the ayatollah.
It should be noted that in October 2022, Mohber visited Moscow as part of an Iranian delegation. It was then that an agreement was reached on the supply of "Shaheds" and missiles from Iran to Russia.
It is Mohber, along with two other high-ranking officials, who are to organize new presidential elections in Iran within the next 50 days.
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Current situation
Iran is a rather closed country where politics is closely linked to religion. The theocratic elite has a significant influence on the course of events. And here the question arises whether it will adhere to the same tough policy as it did under Raisi, in particular, regarding the nuclear deal. It has been repeatedly suggested that the current spiritual leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sees more prospects in establishing cooperation with the West, and according to some reports, he does not support the pro-Russian policy that has been built in recent years.
The reason for this, according to analysts, is a pragmatic understanding that trade with the West provides more opportunities for Iran than trade with Russia. Does the spiritual leader really hold this opinion? It is not known for certain. However, Western analysts are convinced that the regime in Iran has now reached a turning point , which has deepened with the death of Raisi.
The crisis, which was felt even before that and was demonstrated not only by mass protests in 2023 but also by the low turnout in the presidential elections in 2021 and the parliamentary elections in March 2024, has now deepened. At the same time, analysts are convinced that the person who will replace Raisi has probably already been determined or will be determined in the coming days.
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