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With the death of President Ebrahim Raisi, Iran\u2019s first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, becomes acting president. Mr. Mokhber is a conservative political operative with a long history of involvement in large business conglomerates closely tied to Iran\u2019s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n
In a statement on Monday, Mr. Khamenei said that Mr. Mokhber must work with the heads of the legislature and judiciary to hold elections for a new president within 50 days.<\/p>\n
Vice presidents in Iran are typically low profile, operating more as players within the government than as public figures.<\/p>\n
\u201cIran\u2019s vice presidents have traditionally not been contenders to succeed their bosses,\u201d said Robin Wright, a joint fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Wilson Center in Washington. \u201cThe bigger question,\u201d she added, \u201cis who will the regime allow to run for the office.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Mokhber is around 68 years old and became first vice president in August 2021. He is originally from Khuzestan Province in Iran\u2019s southwest, bordering Iraq and the Persian Gulf. He was a deputy governor there, and during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s served as a member of the Revolutionary Guards medical corps.<\/p>\n
One of Mr. Mokhber\u2019s relatively few high-profile appearances came when he and three other senior Iranian officials went to Moscow in October 2022<\/a> to complete a sale of Iranian drones and ballistic missiles to Russia, for use in the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n Mr. Raisi chose him as vice president after Mr. Mokhber held senior positions in some of Iran\u2019s most powerful organizations, including the Mostazafan Foundation, Sina Bank and Setad, a conglomerate entirely controlled by Ayatollah Khamenei that has billions of dollars in assets and was involved \u2014 not entirely successfully \u2014 in efforts<\/a> to make and distribute a Covid-19 vaccine.<\/p>\n All three organizations are part of an opaque network of financial entities that are tied to the Iranian state, although they are not directly state-owned. They are also connected to projects that are priorities for the supreme leader and his inner circle.<\/p>\n Mr. Mokhber\u2019s involvement suggests that he has been a successful behind-the-scenes player who is familiar with the financing networks that are important to the official Iranian power structure.<\/p>\n The Mostazafan Foundation, where Mr. Mokhber worked in the early 2000s, is officially a charity but is described by the U.S. Treasury<\/a> as \u201ca key patronage network for the supreme leader\u201d that includes holdings in key sectors of Iran\u2019s economy, including finance, energy, construction and mining. It is the subject of sanctions by the U.S. Treasury because it is controlled by Mr. Khamenei, and the Treasury said it was created in part \u201cto confiscate and manage property, including that originally belonging to religious minorities\u201d in Iran, including Baha\u2019is<\/a> and Jews.<\/p>\n The Treasury says the foundation funnels some of its money to individuals and entities in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps that have been involved in terrorism and human rights abuses.<\/p>\n The Sina Bank has faced sanctions<\/a> by the U.S. Treasury and the European Union for financing<\/a> Iran\u2019s nuclear and ballistic missile program.<\/p>\n Mr. Mokhber appears to have risen to the top of Iran\u2019s political leadership in part because of the close relationship he developed with Iran\u2019s supreme leader, dating from at least 2007 when he joined the leadership of Setad. Within a few months of his appointment to Setad, Mr. Mokhber had founded the Barakat Foundation, which has a number of companies under its aegis including a major Iranian medical and pharmaceutical company.<\/p>\n While his relationship with the supreme leader will be important while elections are being organized, analysts say that a much larger group of high-ranking officials around Mr. Khamenei will determine how this sensitive period in Iran will be handled.<\/p>\n \u201cThe regime is at a tipping point \u2014 politically, economically, and even militarily,\u201d Ms. Wright said, noting Iran\u2019s large-scale aerial attack on Israel<\/a> last month that was nearly entirely intercepted, which she called \u201ca humiliating failure.\u201d Low turnout in parliamentary elections in March<\/a> was also a sign of trouble for Iran\u2019s theocracy, she added.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is very nervous about its future and the durability of its core ideology,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Leily Nikounazar contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n