Ebrahim Raisi was Iran’s president for almost three years. Even though religious leader Khamenei has the final say in all strategic matters, his power and influence were great.
Ebrahim Raisi, President of Iran since August 2021, was considered an ultra-conservative hardliner. As the preferred candidate and protégé of religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he won the presidential election in June 2021 with almost 62 percent of the vote.
The cleric officially became the successor to the more moderate Hassan Rouhani, who was no longer allowed to run after two terms in office. Now Raisi has died in a helicopter crash at the age of 63 – as has Foreign Minister Hussein Amirabdollahian.
Who was Raisi?
Born in 1960 in Mashad in northeastern Iran, Raisi was considered very influential within the Islamic system. He maintained a close relationship with Khamenei. According to the constitution, Raisi was head of government, while actual power is concentrated in the head of state Khamenei, who has the final say in all strategic matters.
Raisi worked in the judiciary for over three decades and was appointed head of the judiciary in 2019. He was said to have been responsible for numerous arrests and executions of political dissidents in his previous role as a prosecutor.
The mood in Iran
In autumn 2022, the death of the Iranian Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini sparked massive protests in Iran. The young woman died in police custody after being arrested by moral police for violating Islamic dress codes. As a result, tens of thousands of people demonstrated across the country against the government’s repressive course and the Islamic system of rule.
The security forces responded with violence and harsh punishments. Tens of thousands of demonstrators were arrested, many were killed during the protests and several were executed. The protests plunged the political leadership into its worst crisis in decades.
The EU decided on several occasions to impose sanctions against Iran – because of human rights violations, but also because of Iranian support for the Russian war against Ukraine. At the same time, there is growing concern that Iran will become a nuclear power. The international nuclear negotiations with Tehran have reached a dead end. Relations with the West also deteriorated under Raisi’s government.
Arch-enemy Israel
Iran is deeply hostile to Israel. In April, Iran attacked Israel for the first time not through regional proxies such as the Houthi rebels in Yemen or the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, but directly – in response to the bombing of the Iranian embassy compound in Syria’s capital Damascus. This attack also fueled fears of further escalation in the Middle East.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
