TEHRAN: Mohammad Mokhber is Iran’s interim president now following President Ebrahim Raisi and other officials were confirmed killed in a helicopter crash and the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei approved his accession to the role.
Mokhber held an extraordinary meeting with judiciary head Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the parliament speaker, on Monday morning. As per the constitution of Iran, the three must set things in motion for new presidential polls to be held within 50 days. Mohammad Mokhber will remain interim president until then.
FIRST VICE PRESIDENT
Mokhber was appointed first vice president by Raisi in August 2021, shortly following late Raisi took office. Unlike other countries, Iran’s first vice presidency is an appointed – not elected – position that assumed some of the powers of the Prime Minister following the post was abolished in 1989.
There are several appointed vice presidents serving alongside in Iran, each taking on different aspects of executive matters but operating mostly like a cabinet. Mokhber’s role was the top among vice presidents in the country.
Some section of media reported that Mokhber was selected because he had a strong connection with the office of the supreme leader of Iran and IRGC. He was also seen as a person of action with longstanding experience in managing large-scale executive affairs in the country.
SETAD
Before his appointment to the vice presidency, Mokhber had served for 14 years as head of Iran’s Setad, or the Organisation for the Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order.
EARLY LIFE
Born in Dezful in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, Muhammad Mokhber was educated in electrical engineering and also holds a PhD in international law.
He was active in banking and communications sectors earlier in his career, having operated as the chief of the Khuzestan Telecommunications Authority and then being promoted to deputy governor of the province in the 1990s.
It couldn’t be burnt;
It’s eternal;
So far as the earth continues to be earth;
and time proves to be time;
it will lasts indeed;
The fire of desecration and blasphemy will never over come the truth. pic.twitter.com/urSPKZr2yU— Embassy of Islamic Republic of Iran- Islamabad (@IraninIslamabad) May 21, 2024
