{"id":8711,"date":"2024-05-20T09:03:28","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T09:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=8711"},"modified":"2024-05-20T09:03:28","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T09:03:28","slug":"who-is-irans-president-ebrahim-raisi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=8711","title":{"rendered":"Who is Iran\u2019s President Ebrahim Raisi?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>5 Minute, 31 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>

Iran\u2019s President Ebrahim Raisi is feared dead after the helicopter he was in<\/strong> went down<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0in the country\u2019s East Azerbaijan province.<\/p>\n

The 63-year-old political heavyweight has long been regarded as the natural successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the highest authority in Iran.<\/p>\n

end of list<\/span><\/div>\n

An established presence with deep connections in the judiciary and religious elite, Raisi \u2013 a hardline and religiously conservative politician \u2013 first ran for the presidency in 2017 but failed. He was eventually elected in 2021.<\/p>\n

Early years<\/h2>\n

Raisi began studying at the renowned Qom religious seminary at the young age of 15, and proceeded to learn under several of the Muslim scholars of the time.<\/p>\n

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi went missing after a day in the country\u2019s east where he visited the Qiz-Qalasi dam with Azerbaijan\u2019s President Ilham Aliyev [West Asia News Agency via Reuters]<\/p>\n

In his early 20s, he was appointed prosecutor in successive cities until he went to the capital Tehran to work as a deputy prosecutor.<\/p>\n

In 1983, he married Jamileh Alamolhoda, the daughter of Mashhad\u2019s Friday Prayer Imam Ahmad Alamolhoda. They went on to have two daughters.<\/p>\n

For five months in 1988, he was part of a committee overseeing a series of executions of political prisoners, a past that has made him unpopular among the Iranian opposition and led to the United States imposing sanctions on him. In 1989, he was appointed prosecutor of Tehran after the death of Iran\u2019s first Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.<\/p>\n

Raisi continued to rise through the ranks under Khomeini\u2019s replacement, Ayatollah Khamenei, becoming chairman of the Astan Quds Razavi, the biggest religious endowment in Mashhad, on March 7, 2016, which cemented his status in Iran\u2019s establishment.<\/p>\n

Running for president<\/h2>\n

Raisi first ran for president in 2017 against\u00a0Hassan Rouhani<\/a>, who was running for reelection. Rouhani had overseen the negotiation of Iran\u2019s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, restricting its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief.<\/p>\n

A critic of the 2015 deal \u2013\u00a0 known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) \u2013 Raisi came from a more hardline bloc than Rouhani, who was seen as a political moderate within Iran\u2019s political system.<\/p>\n

After his defeat, Raisi began planning for his next presidential campaign. In June 2021, he won 62 percent of the vote, but the election was marred by a low turnout \u2013 48.8 percent \u2013 after several reformists and moderates were prevented from standing.<\/p>\n

By then, the JCPOA was in shambles after the US \u2013 under former President Donald Trump \u2013 unilaterally withdrew and reimposed sanctions on Iran, severely affecting its economy.<\/p>\n

Connections<\/h2>\n

Raisi\u2019s credentials in the religious establishment are strong, with solid relationships with the late Khomeini as well as with Khamenei, who has appointed him to several senior positions.<\/p>\n

He has also managed to maintain good relations with all branches of government, military and legislative, as well as the powerful theocratic ruling class.<\/p>\n

However, Raisi has led Iran during a time of public anger over a deteriorating standard of living, partly due to sanctions and what critics say has been the prioritisation of defence over domestic issues.<\/p>\n

In late 2022, public anger erupted over the death of\u00a0Mahsa Amini<\/a>\u00a0in the custody of Iran\u2019s morality police, who had arrested the 22-year-old as she left a metro station in Tehran with members of her family for alleged non-compliance with the country\u2019s mandatory hijab rules.<\/p>\n

Protests roiled Iran for months, with women taking off or burning their hijabs and cutting their hair off in protest.<\/p>\n

The rallies came to an end in mid-2023 after some\u00a0500 people were killed<\/a>\u00a0when security forces moved in to break up the protests, according to foreign human rights organisations. Seven people were executed for their roles in the unrest.<\/p>\n

A United Nations fact-finding mission concluded in March this year that Iran committed\u00a0crimes against humanity<\/a>\u00a0in the crackdown, including murder, torture and rape.<\/p>\n

The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in late 2022 led to months of protests in Iran, which eventually ended in a violent crackdown [West Asia News Agency via Reuters]<\/p>\n

Stand-offs<\/h2>\n

Raisi has not shied away from confrontation internationally, either.<\/p>\n

Angered by the US\u2019s stance towards the JCPOA and the inability of other signatories to save the pact, a defiant Raisi announced that Iran was stepping up its nuclear programme, but that it was not interested in a bomb.<\/p>\n

More recently, he led Iran through a standoff with Israel as the two countries squared off over Israel\u2019s relentless assault on Gaza, now approaching its eighth month.<\/p>\n

Iran has been outspoken in its condemnation of Israel\u2019s brutal attacks on Palestinian civilians, as have its regional allies in the so-called \u201caxis of resistance\u201d to Israel and its Western allies.<\/p>\n

In early April, the Iranian consular building in Damascus was attacked in a strike blamed on Israel, killing seven people including a\u00a0top commander<\/a>\u00a0and his deputy.<\/p>\n

For almost two weeks, Raisi\u2019s every utterance was the subject of intense scrutiny as the world awaited Tehran\u2019s response. On April 15, Iran launched a\u00a0well-telegraphed attack<\/a> that Israel\u2019s chief military spokesman, Daniel Hagari, said involved more than 120 ballistic missiles, 170 drones and more than 30 cruise missiles, with most intercepted outside Israel\u2019s borders. Minor damage was reported in some areas of Israel, and the attack led to a token response.<\/p>\n

The regional rivalry between Iran and Israel could also be seen in Syria, where Israel has launched\u00a0multiple attacks<\/a>\u00a0over the years, ostensibly targeting Iranian military capabilities there.<\/p>\n

People pray for Raisi\u2019s wellbeing as news of the helicopter\u2019s disappearance spreads [Majid Asgaripour\/West Asia News Agency via Reuters]<\/p>\n

Iran has maintained a close relationship with Syria for years, backing President Bashar al-Assad since he ordered a violent response to peaceful protests in 2011, which led to\u00a013 years of civil war<\/a>. With military and tactical support, Iran has expanded its influence in Syria, while the allied Lebanese group Hezbollah has also bolstered Assad\u2019s forces.<\/p>\n

Between continuing an established foreign policy and navigating new confrontations domestically and internationally, Raisi has so far proved a controversial president.<\/p>\n

However, his strong relationships to all levels of the Iranian establishment have also made him a strong contender for a second term, and possibly for the highest post in the land, that of Supreme Leader.<\/p>\n

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Iran\u2019s President Ebrahim Raisi is feared dead after the helicopter he was in went down\u00a0in the country\u2019s East Azerbaijan province. The 63-year-old political heavyweight has long been regarded as the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}