London — Reports have been confirmed that Iranian President Raisi has died in a helicopter crash, and in accordance with Article 131 of the Islamic Republic's Constitution, Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Mokbel will take office with the approval of the Supreme Leader.
The article also makes clear that a council consisting of the head of the legislative branch, the head of the judiciary, and the vice president must coordinate the selection of a new president within 50 days.
In a statement released on Monday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei applied the provision and recognized Moqber as acting president.
In this file photo, Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Mokber welcomes Oman's Haitham bin Tariq Sultan (not pictured) upon his arrival at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran, Iran, May 28, 2023.
Wana News Agency (via Reuters)
“Mr. Mokbal is in a position to manage the executive branch and is obligated to coordinate with the heads of the legislative and judicial branches to elect a new president within a maximum of 50 days,” the statement said.
The country's Guardian Council, the body responsible for conducting elections, announced that the next president would rule the country for four years, not just the remainder of Raisi's term.
“The president elected in the next election will be the one who will begin his four-year term,” said Hadi Tahan Nazif, the council's spokesperson, according to the state-run Fars news agency.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei speaks during a meeting with families of members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in Tehran, Iran, May 19, 2024.
Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran/WANA (via Reuters)
Ibrahim Raisi was elected as the 8th president of the Islamic Republic in the 2021 elections.
Voter turnout was 48.8%, the lowest turnout since the 1979 revolution, and the government believes that low turnout is an important factor in legitimizing the regime, but the turnout was undermined. Became.
Experts nervous about who will succeed Islamic Republic leader Ayatollah Khamenei, 85, the theocracy's supreme leader, say Raisi's death could spark a crisis in the country's leadership. Stated.
Karim Sajjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment think tank, said on Sunday that “few people in Iran's conspiratorial political culture would believe that Raisi's death was an accident.”
One of Mokbel's first decisions as acting president was to appoint Ali Bagheri Kani as acting foreign minister.
Bagheri Kani is a relative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. He was deputy foreign minister to the late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdullahian, who died in a helicopter crash with President Raisi.
Bagheri Kani's most prominent role was as a member of the negotiating team during the failed talks aimed at reviving Iran's nuclear deal with world powers, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Bagheri Qani criticized the former negotiating team that signed the original JCPOA with world powers, saying the deal ignored many of the red lines that Iran should not cross. His views are very close to those of the Supreme Leader.
