Who is Mohammad Mokhber, the man called to be Iran’s interim president?

Politics in Iran is in turmoil after it was reported that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, and several other people have been killed in a helicopter crash. News came through on Sunday that the helicopter they were travelling in had come down in a mountainous region in the north of the country, near the border with Azerbaijan.

What caused Raisi’s fatal helicopter crash?

Although no immediate cause for the crash has been identified, the area in which remains of the helicopter were found is often covered in thick fog, which may well have been a contributing factor. Search and rescue efforts, which led to the discovery of the helicopter cabin and “some bodies” being found completely burned, and “no signs of life”, were hampered for that very reason.

No official confirmation has come from Iran as yet, but tributes to the president and Amirabdollahian, along with messages of condolence, have already been shared.

What happens when the President of Iran dies?

Attention has already turned to what happens next. According to article 131 of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s constitution, if a president dies or is incapacitated in office, the first vice president immediately takes over on an interim basis, with the confirmation of the supreme leader, who has the final say on all state matters in the country.

The first vice president, speaker of parliament and head of the judiciary must then arrange an election for a new president to be voted in within no more than 50 days of the previous incumbent’s death.

Mohammad Mokhber is the man who will become Iran’s interim president and be part of the three-person council that will have to put the wheels in motion to hastily organise an unexpected presidential election. Like Raisi, 69-year-old Mokhber is said to be close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, which means there appears to be little chance of him being initially overlooked.

Who is Mohammad Mokhber?

Mohkber first became vice president when Raisi was elected as president in 2021, with suggestions that he achieved his lofty position having looked after Khamenei’s finances for a number of years.

The incoming interim president is said to have played a key role in Iran’s “resistance economy,” which has helped the country survive financially despite being hit by a number of global sanctions.

Mohkber has also led a number of entities who have been sanctioned in the United States, including Sina Bank, owned by the government of Iran and which financed the Basij, a volunteer paramilitary unit within the US-designated terrorist organisation the IRGC.

Additionally, the former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps member headed the Mostazafan Foundation, which owns most of Sina Bank’s shares and was also sanctioned in the US, with its affiliates expropriating wealth from Iranian citizens.

In 2010, Mohkber himself was sanctioned by the European Union for allegedly being involved in “nuclear or ballistic missile activities” before being removed from the list two years later. Last October, he was part of the group of Iranian officials that agreed to supply the Russian military with missiles and drones, according to a Reuters source.