Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has disappeared after the helicopter he was in went down within the nation’s East Azerbaijan province.
The 63-year-old political heavyweight has lengthy been considered the pure successor to Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the best authority in Iran.
A longtime presence with deep connections within the judiciary and non secular elite, Raisi – a hardline and religiously conservative politician – first ran for the presidency in 2017 however failed. He was finally elected in 2021.
Early years
Raisi started learning on the famend Qom non secular seminary on the younger age of 15, and proceeded to be taught underneath a number of of the Muslim students of the time.
In his early 20s, he was appointed prosecutor in successive cities till he went to the capital Tehran to work as a deputy prosecutor.
In 1983, he married Jamileh Alamolhoda, the daughter of Mashhad’s Friday Prayer Imam Ahmad Alamolhoda. They went on to have two daughters.
For 5 months in 1988, he was a part of a committee overseeing a collection of executions of political prisoners, a previous that has made him unpopular among the many Iranian opposition and led to the US imposing sanctions on him. In 1989, he was appointed prosecutor of Tehran after the demise of Iran’s first Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Raisi continued to rise via the ranks underneath Khomeini’s substitute, Ayatollah Khamenei, changing into chairman of the Astan Quds Razavi, the most important non secular endowment in Mashhad, on March 7, 2016, which cemented his standing in Iran’s institution.
Operating for president
Raisi first ran for president in 2017 in opposition to Hassan Rouhani, who was working for reelection. Rouhani had overseen the negotiation of Iran’s 2015 nuclear take care of world powers, limiting its nuclear programme in return for sanctions aid.
A critic of the 2015 deal – referred to as the Joint Complete Plan of Motion (JCPOA) – Raisi got here from a extra hardline bloc than Rouhani, who was seen as a political reasonable inside Iran’s political system.
After his defeat, Raisi started planning for his subsequent presidential marketing campaign. In June 2021, he received 62 p.c of the vote, however the election was marred by a low turnout – 48.8 p.c – after a number of reformists and moderates had been prevented from standing.
By then, the JCPOA was in shambles after the US – underneath former President Donald Trump – unilaterally withdrew and reimposed sanctions on Iran, severely affecting its economic system.
The COVID-19 pandemic made issues worse, with the demise toll exceeding 97,000 by August 2021.
Connections
Raisi’s credentials within the non secular institution are robust, with strong relationships with the late Khomeini in addition to with Khamenei, who has appointed him to a number of senior positions.
He has additionally managed to keep up good relations with all branches of presidency, army and legislative in addition to the highly effective theocratic ruling class.
Nevertheless, Raisi has led Iran throughout a time of public anger over a deteriorating lifestyle, partly attributable to sanctions and what critics say has been the prioritisation of defence over home points.
In late 2022, public anger erupted over the demise of Mahsa Amini within the custody of Iran’s morality police, who had arrested the 22-year-old as she left a metro station in Tehran with members of her household for alleged non-compliance with the nation’s necessary hijab guidelines.
Protests roiled Iran for months, with ladies taking off or burning their hijabs and reducing their hair off in protest.
The rallies got here to an finish in mid-2023 after some 500 folks had been killed when safety forces moved in to interrupt up the protests, in keeping with international human rights organisations. Seven folks had been executed for his or her roles within the unrest.
A United Nations fact-finding mission concluded in March this 12 months that Iran dedicated crimes in opposition to humanity within the crackdown, together with homicide, torture and rape.
Stand-offs
Raisi has not shied away from confrontation internationally both.
Angered by the US’s stance in direction of the JCPOA and the lack of different signatories to avoid wasting the pact, a defiant Raisi introduced that Iran was stepping up its nuclear programme, however that it was not concerned about a bomb.
Extra just lately, he led Iran via a standoff with Israel as the 2 international locations squared off over Israel’s relentless assault on Gaza, now approaching its eighth month.
Iran has been outspoken in its condemnation of Israel’s brutal assaults on Palestinian civilians, as have its regional allies within the so-called “axis of resistance” to Israel and its Western allies.
In early April, the Iranian consular constructing in Damascus was attacked in a strike blamed on Israel, killing seven folks together with a prime commander and his deputy.
For nearly two weeks, Raisi’s each utterance was the topic of intense scrutiny because the world awaited Tehran’s response. On April 15, Iran launched a well-telegraphed assault that Israel’s chief army spokesman, Daniel Hagari, mentioned concerned greater than 120 ballistic missiles, 170 drones and greater than 30 cruise missiles with most intercepted outdoors Israel’s borders. Minor injury was reported in some areas of Israel, and the assault led to a token response.
The regional rivalry between Iran and Israel is also seen in Syria, the place Israel has launched a number of assaults through the years, ostensibly concentrating on Iranian army capabilities there.
Iran has maintained an in depth relationship with Syria for years, backing President Bashar al-Assad since he ordered a violent response to peaceable protests in 2011, which led to 13 years of civil conflict. With army and tactical assist, Iran has expanded its affect in Syria whereas the allied Lebanese group Hezbollah has additionally bolstered Assad’s forces.
Between persevering with established international coverage and navigating new confrontations domestically and internationally, Raisi has thus far proved a controversial president.
Nevertheless, his robust relationships on all ranges of the Iranian institution have additionally made him a robust contender for a second time period, and probably for the best put up within the land, that of Supreme Chief.
