Dr. Syeda Bushra Batool
Waving Iranian flags and portraits of late President Ebrahim Raisi all around, the streets of Iran’s holy city of Mashhad were flooded during the funeral prayers of Iran’s out-going president Ebrahim Raisi, who suffered a tragic helicopter crash in the country’s mountainous northwestern city of Tabriz on Sunday, 19 May, 2024. Five days of national mourning was declared in the country following his death. The death of 63-year-old president comes after the historic attack of Tehran with sizable missile and drones on Israel’s territory in early April, launched as retaliation to Israel’s airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, killing several Islamic Revolutionary Guards including Corps commanders.
The Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has ultimate authority in Iran, has assigned vice president Mohammad Mokhber, as caretaker president until next presidential elections which are scheduled to be held on June 28, as announced by state media.
Known as a jurist and religious figure, the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was born on 14 December, 1960, in Mashhad, Iran. He was raised as a cleric which is often reflected in his staunch political resistance towards Israel and the west. Following the 1979 revolution, he began his career as a prosecutor in 1981. Rising swiftly in his position, Raisi became Deputy Prosecutor General of Tehran at the young age of 25. He was also a part of a 4-member committee that issued death sentence for regime opponents imprisoned in 1988. This made him particularly unpopular among its opposition and controversial particularly in the west and many Human Rights groups, leading the United States to impose sanctions on him.
After the death of Iran’s first Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989 and during Ali Khamenei’s tenure as Khomeini’s successor, Raisi rapidly climbed the ranks in state offices. He served as Tehran’s prosecutor general from 1989 to 1994. For next ten years until 2004, he was appointed as the head of the State Inspectorate Organization, which followed his appointment as the first deputy chief of the judiciary and then as Iran’s Attorney General in 2014. Ex-president Raisi was also privileged to hold position of chairman of the Astan Quds Razavi, the head of the Imam Reza (A.S) Shrine and Foundation, the most sacred holy shrine and biggest religious endowment in Mashhad, which he acquired on 07 March 2016. This further strengthened his position and status among Iran’s establishment.
Raisi, during 2017 presidential elections, ran as a candidate but could not succeed against the then incumbent President Hassan Rouhani. One of the strengths of Rouhani at that time was his participation in the Iran’s negotiation on nuclear deal in 2015, known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with world powers, which in a way also restricted Iran’s nuclear programme in return of sanction relief. Raisi was critical of the 2015 nuclear deal and it was one of the reasons he was considered a hardliner more than Rouhani who was seen as a political moderate within Iran’s political system. Following the dismissal of Ayatollah Amoli Larijani from the judiciary chief position, Raisi assumed the vacant position of judiciary chief in March 2019. During the 18 June 2021 presidential elections, Raisi won by a large margin, securing 62% of the votes, thus becoming Iran’s 8th president.
By that time, the JCPOA had already been irrelevant with the then US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrawing from the agreement while re-imposing sanctions on Iran, consequently severely affecting its economy. Angered by the US’s stance towards the JCPOA and the inability of other signatories to save the pact, Raisi announced that Iran was stepping up its nuclear programme, but that it was not interested in a bomb.
The time of Raisi as president of Iran was surrounded by controversies and mass protests also. There are many reasons to that. Protests over alleged Human Rights persecutions, deepening economic crisis and unprecedented armed exchanges with arch-enemy Israel, all remained a challenge to his presidency. It is also a matter of fact that he was reined to presidency at such a time when the economy was battered by US sanctions which contributed to deteriorating standard of living to which critics described it as the prioritisation of defence over domestic issues. Additional to the escalating regional tensions within the Middle East, stalled talks on the revival of a nuclear deal with world powers and the anti-government protests that swept across Iran in 2022 after the death of Mahsa Amini, were other challenges in front of him during his tenure as president.
Raisi had been vocal for the cause of Palestine and Iran’s support towards Palestinian people, a centerpiece of its foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Iran has been outspoken in its condemnation of Israel’s brutal attacks on Palestinian civilians, as have its regional allies in the so-called “axis of resistance” to Israel and its Western allies. Notwithstanding,
His death triggered both domestic and international reactions with several of Iran’s international partners sending condolences and effusive praise. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, all released statements praising Raisi’s legacy and hailing him as a “friend.” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also attended Raisi’s funeral and praised the late president for his services to Iran and promoting the country’s ties with Pakistan. Prime Minister Sharif also offered his condolence on behalf of the people and government of Pakistan to Supreme Leader Khamenei.
Due to continuing established foreign policy and navigating new confrontations domestically and internationally, Raisi proved a controversial president. However, his strong relationships on all levels of the Iranian establishment also made him a strong contender for a second term as president and as a successor of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, the highest authority in Iran and Raisi’s 85-year-old mentor. The legacy of Raisi would be continued in Iran, at least in the coming time, and he will be remembered in the memories of the people of Iran and elsewhere in the world, especially from the friendly countries of Iran including Pakistan.
The author is a Research Officer at Rabita Forum International (RFI).
