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Meet Mohammed Mokhber, Iran’s new president

In July 2010, Mokhber was included on a list of people sanctioned by the European Union for “nuclear or ballistic missile activities.”

By World Israel News Staff

Following the death of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash on Sunday, the Islamic Republic of Iran has a new acting president.

According to the Iranian constitution, which lays out a clear order of succession should the country’s president die in office, Vice-President Mohammed Mokhber is now officially the acting president of the country.

However, Mokhber’s time in office may be short. Along with election authorities, one of Mokhber’s first moves as acting president will be to set new elections within the next 50 days, in line with Iranian law.

Bloomberg reported that Mokhber is not popular amongst the Iranian people, and will likely be replaced after the elections.

Mokhber, 68, became vice-president in 2021. He previously served as the deputy governor of Khuzestan Province and on the Board of Sina Bank, one of Iran’s largest financial institutions.

According to a Reuters report, Mokhber headed an Iranian delegation to Moscow in October 2023, which was focused on providing weapons for Russia to use in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Before assuming the vice-presidency in 2021, Mokhber quickly ascended through the ranks of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the militant force loyal to the anti-Israel regime in Tehran.

As a commander in the IRGC’s elite Quds Force, he played a role in the brutal suppression of dissidents during the final years of the Iran-Iraq war. Human rights monitors have since compiled extensive evidence of his involvement in torture, extrajudicial killings, and other severe human rights violations.

The US Treasury Department has imposed multiple sanctions on Mokhber for his support of terrorist activities, regional destabilization efforts, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and human rights abuses.

He was first sanctioned in 2010 for facilitating illegal transactions on behalf of the IRGC.

Additional US sanctions were imposed on Mokhber in 2017 after evidence emerged of his involvement in the illicit shipment of arms and human rights violations in Syria.

Mokhber, like the late Raisi, achieved his position largely due to being in the good graces of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who exerts the final say over all government-related issues in the country.

It’s unclear if Khamenei will give his endorsement of Mokhber for president in the upcoming round of elections.

Khameini, 85, is the ultimate authority in the country, and his blessing is required for a president to take office.

He is rumored to be close with several other potential presidential contenders.