Ebrahim Raisi, the President of Iran, died in a helicopter crash, and the acting presidency has been assumed by Mohammad Mokhber, the First Vice President.
According to foreign media on the 20th, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, appointed First Vice President Mokhber as the acting president on the same day.
The Iranian constitution stipulates that in the event of the president's incapacity, the First Vice President shall act as president and a new president must be elected through a by-election within 50 days. Vice President Mokhber is the most senior among Iran's 12 vice presidents.
The acting president must form a three-person committee with the heads of the judiciary and parliament to hold an election for a new president within 50 days.
Vice President Mokhber was born in 1955 and is 68 years old this year. He was appointed First Vice President in 2021. Holding a doctorate in international law, Mokhber has worked at the Mostazafan Foundation, which manages large-scale government projects, and is known to have significantly contributed to policies circumventing Western sanctions on Iranian oil.
In particular, Vice President Mokhber is considered a close associate of Khamenei. In 2007, Khamenei personally selected Mokhber as CEO of Setad, a multi-billion-dollar investment fund exclusively controlled by him.
Meanwhile, the Iranian government officially confirmed on the day that President Raisi died in a helicopter crash the previous day and stated that "the government will operate without any disruption."
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