Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was declared dead on Monday morning when the helicopter he was traveling in with other senior officials crashed in the country’s East Azerbaijan province.
The 63-year-old political veteran was long considered the natural successor to Iran’s supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
An established presence with deep ties in the judiciary and religious elite, Raisi – a fundamentalist and religiously conservative politician – first ran for president in 2017 but was unsuccessful. He was ultimately elected in 2021.
early years
Raisi began studying at the famous Qom religious seminary at the young age of 15 and received education from many Muslim scholars of the time.
In his early 20s, he was appointed prosecutor in successive cities until moving to the capital, Tehran, to work as a deputy prosecutor.
In 1983, he married Jamileh Alamolhoda, daughter of Mashhad’s Friday prayer imam Ahmed Alamolhoda. They had two daughters.
For five months in 1988, he was part of a committee overseeing a series of executions of political prisoners, a past that made him unpopular among the Iranian opposition and led the United States to impose sanctions on him. In 1989, he was appointed prosecutor of Tehran following the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s first supreme leader.
Raisi continued to rise under the leadership of Ayatollah Khamenei, who replaced Khomeini, and on March 7, 2016 became chairman of Mashhad’s largest religious charity, Astan Quds Razavi, cementing his position in Iran’s establishment.
running for president
Raisi first ran for president in 2017 against Hassan Rouhani, who was running for re-election. Rouhani oversaw the negotiation of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which restricted its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
Critics of the 2015 agreement – known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – came from a more radical faction than Raisi Rouhani, who was seen as a political moderate within Iran’s political system.
Following his defeat, Raisi began planning his next presidential campaign. In June 2021, he won 62 percent of the vote, but the election saw a low turnout – 48.8 percent – after many reformists and moderates were barred from standing.
By then, the JCPOA was in shambles after the US – under then President Donald Trump – unilaterally withdrew and reimposed sanctions on Iran, severely impacting its economy.
The COVID-19 pandemic made matters worse, with the death toll exceeding 97,000 by August 2021.
relationship
Raisi had strong credentials in the religious establishment, with solid ties to the late Khomeini as well as Khamenei, who appointed him to several senior positions.
He also managed to maintain good relations with all branches of government, military and legislative, as well as with the powerful religious ruling class.
However, Raisi led Iran at a time when there was public anger over declining living standards, partly due to sanctions and what critics described as prioritizing defense over domestic issues.
In late 2022, public anger erupted over the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s morality police, who killed the 22-year-old girl while leaving a metro station in Tehran with her family members for alleged non-compliance. Time was arrested. Country’s mandatory hijab rules.
Protests rocked Iran for months, with women taking off or burning their hijabs and cutting their hair in protest.
The rallies ended in mid-2023 after about 500 people were killed when security forces arrived to break up the protests, according to foreign human rights organizations. Seven people were hanged for their roles in the unrest.
A UN fact-finding mission concluded in March this year that Iran committed crimes against humanity, including murder, torture and rape.
impasse
Raisi did not shy away from confrontation even at the international level.
Raisi, angered by the US stance towards the JCPOA and the inability of other signatories to save the agreement, declared that Iran was pursuing its nuclear program but was not interested in a bomb.
More recently, he led Iran in a standoff with Israel as the two countries faced off over Israel’s continued assault on Gaza, now approaching its eighth month.
Iran has been vocal in its condemnation of Israel’s brutal attacks on Palestinian civilians, as well as its regional allies in the so-called “axis of resistance” to Israel and its Western allies.
In early April, the Iranian Consulate building in Damascus was attacked in an attack blamed on Israel, killing seven people, including a top commander and his deputy.
For nearly two weeks, Raisi’s every statement was the subject of intense scrutiny as the world waited for Tehran’s response. On April 15, Iran launched a well-organized telegraph attack, which Israel’s chief military spokesman Daniel Hagari said included more than 120 ballistic missiles, 170 drones, and more than 30 cruise missiles, the majority of which were fired from outside Israel’s borders. Was stopped. Minor damage was reported in some areas of Israel, and the attack caused a symbolic reaction.
Regional rivalry between Iran and Israel can also be seen in Syria, where Israel has launched several attacks over the past few years, apparently targeting Iranian military capabilities there.
Iran has maintained close ties with Syria for years, supporting President Bashar al-Assad since he ordered a violent response to peaceful protests in 2011, leading to a 13-year civil war. With military and strategic support, Iran has expanded its influence in Syria, while allied Lebanese group Hezbollah has also reinforced al-Assad’s forces.
Between continuing the established foreign policy and dealing with new confrontations domestically and internationally, Raisi proved to be a controversial president.
However, his strong connections at all levels of the Iranian establishment make him a strong contender for a second term and possibly for the country’s highest post, Supreme Leader.
