Ebrahim Raisi managed to act as the president of Iran from 2021. He was seen as a likely successor to the country’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khamenei.
Iida Putkonen,
Elsa Osipova
President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi has died in a helicopter crash. Raisi was 63 years old when he died. The death is confirmed by the Iranian state media, according to the news agency Reuters. The Iranian government has also confirmed the president’s death.
previously reported on the helicopter accident. According to the Iranian news agency IRNA, the foreign minister of Iran was also on board Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other officials and bodyguards.
Ebrahim Raisi became the president of Iran in 2021. Raisi has been described as an extreme conservative and he was an old, Shiite religious scholar. Before his presidency, Raisi headed Iran’s judiciary and was a candidate for the presidency as early as 2017. His campaign for the presidency focused on fighting corruption and improving the economy of the Iranian state.
Raisi was a prominent figure in Iran’s administration and a key power wielder immediately after Iran’s religious leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after.
Raisi was considered a likely successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Ayatollah is the spiritual leader of Iran, i.e. the highest-ranking head of the state. Khamenei has been the spiritual leader since 1989.
As a political figure, Ebrahim Raisi was controversial. For example, Raisi had a very strong attitude towards the 2022 Iranian protests, and the US administration condemned him for the torture of thousands of prisoners in the 1980s in 2019.
In April, Iran carried out a historic revenge attack on Israel. According to The New York Times, Rais’s presidency has been marked by a goal expand Iran’s influence militarily. For example, Iran has enriched uranium for the needs of its nuclear program, even though it is prohibited in previous nuclear agreements.
The crash of the helicopter took place in northwestern Iran near the border with Azerbaijan. Raisi visited the region to inaugurate a new dam with the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev with.
Former President of Finland Sauli Niinistö met Ebrahim Raisin in connection with the UN General Assembly in the fall of 2022. Then the topic of discussion was Niinistö’s concern about Iran’s nuclear program and the war in Ukraine. Iran has supplied military equipment to Russia for fighting in Ukraine.
Condolences from the world
Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi was the first to convey his condolences to Iran.
– We stand by Iran in such sad times, Modi said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the Secretary of State Amir-Abdollahian and President Raisi were true friends of Russia. Iran is one of Russia’s few allies.
The European Union would express its sincere condolences for Raisi’s death, news agency AFP reported.
Also the prime minister of Iraq Mustafa al-Kadhimi and the President of Syria Bashar al-Assad showed in their statement on Monday morning that Iraq supports the Iranians in the tragic chain of events.
Among the extremist organizations, the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah and Hamas, which holds power in Gaza, expressed their condolences to Iran’s spiritual leader.
Not everyone in Iran today mourns Raisi’s death.
Many Iranians have opposed Rais and the Iranian regime for restricting women’s rights, and a 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa Aminin of death.
In 2022, several protests will arise in different parts of the country due to the administration’s actions. The women defied the strict dress code by moving in public without a hijab scarf covering their hair and a loose robe.
The protests swelled into giant demonstrations, during which dozens of people were arrested. Later, Iran has also executed people who participated in the protests.
20.5. at 10:31 The story is supplemented with reactions from around the world.
Correction 20.5. 7:50 am: Corrected the name of Iran’s spiritual leader. The Ayatollah is Ali Khamenei, not Ali Khameini, as was erroneously read earlier in the story.