Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has appointed Mohammad Mokhber as the country's acting president following the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.
Raisi, his foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and two senior local officials were travelling in a helicopter with their security detail when the aircraft crashed in the mountainous region of Iran's northwest on Sunday.
The crash site was discovered on the side of a steep mountain on Monday morning with only the burned-out wreckage of the helicopter remaining. There were no survivors.
As well as announcing five days of national mourning, Ayatollah Khamenei named Raisi’s first vice president as the man to lead the country until a new full-time president can be selected.
Mr Mokhber, who has served as Raisi’s deputy since he was first elected in 2021, is perhaps more importantly seen as close to the ayatollah, who has the final say in all matters of state. As a result, Mr Mokhber will be seen as one of the stronger contenders to replace Raisi permanently.
He was quickly appointed interim president during an emergency meeting chaired by the government’s executive, legislative and judiciary branches.
"We will follow the path of president Raisi in fulfilling assigned duties without any interruption," Mr Mokhber said following his appointment.
The Islamic Republic's constitution directs that in the event the president dies or is incapacitated, the first vice president shall take over for an interim period of 50 days. During that time the acting president must work with the speaker of parliament and the head of the judiciary to arrange for an urgent presidential election to be held.
Khamenei confirmed this would be Mokhber’s main priority “within a maximum of 50 days” in his statement. He earlier said “there will be no disruption in the work of the country” during this period of uncertainty.
Mr Mokhber is evidently a trusted hand in the eyes of the supreme leader, having served for 14 years as the head of Setad, an investment fund linked to the country’s religious leadership. Formally known as the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam, Setad was set up by Iran’s first supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to organise the management and sale of properties abandoned during the Islamic Revolution.
Setad and 37 companies it oversaw were added to a list of entities sanctioned by the US treasury department in 2013.
Mr Mokhber has also personally been sanctioned by the EU in the past. In 2010, the bloc added him to a list of individuals and entities facing action for alleged involvement in “nuclear or ballistic missile activities”. Two years later, it removed him from the list.
Mr Mokhber was part of a team of Iranian officials who visited Moscow in October and agreed to supply surface-to-surface missiles and more drones to Russia’s military, sources told Reuters. The team also included two senior officials from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and an official from the Supreme National Security Council.
Iran’s cabinet has also appointed deputy foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani as acting foreign minister following the death of Amirabdollahian.
