With the surprise death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday in a helicopter crash, Iran’s first vice president has stepped into the vacant role — at least for now.
As acting president under the Islamic Republic’s constitution, Mohammad Mokhber, 68, will form a three-member council – along with the speaker of parliament and the head of the judiciary – that will organize new presidential elections.
While it remains unclear in the long term who will replace Raisi – a hardline protégé of the country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei – the constitution stipulates that elections must take place within 50 days of the president’s death.
Mokhber, born on September 1, 1955, was previously sanctioned by the West for “nuclear activities” and also agreed to supply Russia with a deadly arsenal of drones to pressure its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Like Raisi, Mokhber is seen as close to Khamenei, who has the final say in all state affairs and who today tasked Mokhber with organizing the elections.
He became the first vice president in 2021 when Raisi was elected president after a carefully orchestrated election, in which Khamenei achieved the desired result.
According to the Islamic Republic’s constitution, Mohammad Mokhber (pictured in September 2023), 68, will form a three-person council – together with the speaker of parliament and the head of the judiciary – that will organize new presidential elections.
But with Raisi’s death, any plan that could have led to him succeeding Khamenei as Iran’s supreme leader will now have to be torn apart and reshaped.
Mokhber will likely be one of the favored candidates to fill the vacant role.
In addition to now being acting president of Iran, the 68-year-old is also a member of the Expediency Discernment Council – an administrative assembly appointed by Khamenei and first established in 1988.
Although it was initially created to resolve conflicts between different branches within the Iranian government, its true power comes from its advisory role to the Supreme Leader.
Furthermore, before becoming Vice President of Iran, Mokhber was head of the Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order (Setad) – a state-owned investment fund under the direct control of the Supreme Leader.
It was created from thousands of properties seized in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution on the orders of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Khamenei’s predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
It instructed aides to sell and manage properties supposedly abandoned in the chaotic years after the revolution, channeling most of the proceeds to charity.
However, a Reuters investigation found that it “built its empire on the systematic seizure of thousands of properties from ordinary Iranians.”
Initially, Ruhollah ordered three assistants to distribute the properties to charity. Under Khamenei, however, the organization has acquired properties for itself and grown into a major economic power in Iran.
The new incumbent president’s actions have gotten him noticed abroad.
In 2010, the European Union included Mokhber on a list of individuals and entities it sanctioned for alleged involvement in “nuclear or ballistic missile activities.”
Two years later he was removed from the list.
In 2013, the U.S. Treasury Department added Setad and 37 companies it oversaw to a list of sanctioned entities.
Mokhber was also part of a team of Iranian officials who visited Moscow in October and agreed to supply surface-to-surface missiles and more drones to the Russian military, sources told Reuters news agency at the time.
Mokhber (pictured in May 2023), born on September 1, 1955, is, like Raisi, seen as close to Khamenei, who has the final say in all state affairs.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin (right) and Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber shake hands during their meeting on the sidelines of the member states of the Council of Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) . Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Mokhber has been instructed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (photo May 10) to organize elections for a new president within the next 50 days.
The team also included two senior officials from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and an official from the Supreme National Security Council.
The drones and additional missiles have wreaked havoc across Ukraine and allowed Russia to gain an advantage in Vladimir Putin’s ongoing war.
Following Raisi’s death, the only other person introduced so far is Mojtaba Khameini, the 55-year-old son of the Supreme Leader.
However, some have expressed concern about the position being taken by a family member for only the third time since 1979, especially after the Islamic Revolution overthrew the Shah’s hereditary Pahlavi monarchy.
Raisi was killed on Sunday after a helicopter carrying him and other officials crashed in Iran’s mountainous northwest.
Today it was confirmed by Iranian media that he is dead, along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian; Governor of East Azerbaijan Province Malek Rahmati, Tabriz’s Friday prayer Imam Mohammad Ali Alehashem, as well as a pilot, co-pilot, crew chief, head of security and another bodyguard.
Grainy images released by IRNA early this morning showed what the state news agency described as the crash site. Soldiers speaking in the local Azerbaijani language said: “There it is, we found it.”
An Iranian official later said that search teams that located the wreckage found “no sign of life.” The country’s government held an “urgent meeting” on Monday, leaving Raisi’s chair empty and covered with a black sash.
Mokhber steps into the role of president at a time when the Middle East remains roiled by the war between Israel and Hamas, in which Mr. Raisi, led by Khamenei, launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel last month.
Under Raisi, Iran enriched uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels, further escalating tensions with the West as Tehran also supplied bomb-laden drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine and to armed militias in the region.
Meanwhile, Iran has faced years of mass protests against its Shiite theocracy over its ailing economy and women’s rights, making this moment much more sensitive for Tehran and the country’s future.
Iran has armed Russia in its war against Ukraine, and has also launched a massive drone and missile attack on Israel during its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The country has also continued to arm proxy groups in the Middle East, such as the Houthi rebels in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (photo May 19), a tough protege of the country’s supreme leader, died on Sunday at the age of 63.
Raisi was declared dead after rescuers found a helicopter carrying him and other officials that had crashed the day before in the mountainous northwestern reaches of Iran. Early Monday morning, drone footage was seen from the scene of the accident
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (left) was photographed moments before the helicopter crash near the border with Azerbaijan that killed him
Massive protests have been raging in the country for years.
The most recent involved the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a woman previously arrested for allegedly not wearing a hijab or headscarf as ordered by authorities.
More than 500 people were killed and more than 22,000 people were arrested during the months-long crackdown by the security services that followed the demonstrations.
In March, a United Nations investigative panel ruled that Iran was responsible for the “physical violence” that led to Ms. Amini’s death.
