Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi was confirmed to have died in a helicopter crash on Monday. Raisi was often seen as the successor to the Iranian supreme leader 'Ayatollah' Ali Khamenei. Raisi was a hardliner cleric who was elected as the President of Iran in 2021. During his term in office, Iran managed to accelerate the country’s nuclear programme.


Ebrahim Raisi — Iranian Orthodox Leader


Raisi was born in the eastern city of Mashhad in 1960. He hailed from an orthodox Islamic family that brushed shoulders with Iran’s top leadership during the Islamic Revolution in the late 1970s. The Islamic Revolution of Iran replaced the secular monarchy of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi with the theocratic Islamic Republic led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. 


Raisi was initially a religious scholar, who went up the ranks of the country's judiciary as a protege of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He later became a member of the “Death Committee”, which oversaw the executions of political prisoners in 1988.


Even though Raisi was one of the four judiciary members on the committee, he had always denied any role in the several executions that were considered “massacre of political prisoners” as per the United Nations Human Rights Council. As per human rights groups, about 5,000 men and women were executed. These political prisoners who refused to abandon their beliefs were executed and buried in mass graves. Raisi justified it with a fatwa by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.


As a result, the United States issued various sanctions against Raisi.


Presidential Elections And Ebrahim Raisi


In 2017, Raisi first participated in the Presidential elections. However, it didn’t go well with him and lost to Hassan Rouhani, who was running for re-election. 


However, Raisi kept working towards the next elections. The loss was not enough to have much of a negative impact on Raisi’s career and he became the head of the judiciary in 2019. He was also elected to several positions of significance.


Again in 2021, Raisi announced his candidacy for the Presidential election. He projected himself as someone who would fight poverty, corruption, humiliation, and discrimination in and of the country.


However, the election was also a controversial one. Several reformists boycotted the elections urging others to do the same as the hardline Guardian Council had disqualified several prominent candidates. 


Soon, the results were declared and Raisi became the new Iranian President.


Raisi’s Presidential Rule


Raisi pledged to improve the Iranian economy and resolve the nation's problems, and aimed to strengthen ties with neighbouring countries as he began his term as President. 


A nuclear deal with the US was reportedly closed by August 2022. Meanwhile, domestic events in Iran disrupted the process. During his term, Iran unexpectedly reconciled with Saudi Arabia after seven years of severed relations in 2023.


Last year in October, Hamas attacked southern Israel, prompting a major Israeli military response in Gaza. This also affected Iran, with the country’s failed relations with Israel.


On Sunday, Ebrahim Raisi had extended Iran's support to Palestine in the war with Israel, hours before his death, as per BBC.