wtop News 5/20/2024
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s first Vice President Mohammad Mokhber was appointed acting president of the Islamic Republic on Monday after the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.
Mokhber, 68, has largely been in the shadows compared to other politicians in Iran’s Shiite theocracy. Raisi’s death Sunday thrust Mokhber into public view. He is expected to serve as caretaker president for some 50 days before mandatory presidential elections in Iran.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the announcement of Mokhber’s appointment in a condolence message after the crash. The helicopter was found Monday in northwestern Iran.
Despite his low-key public profile, Mokhber has held prominent positions within the country’s power structure, particularly in its bonyads, or charitable foundations. Those groups were fueled by donations or assets seized after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, particularly those previously associated with Iran’s shah or those in his government.
Mokhber oversaw a bonyad known in English as the Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order, or EIKO, referring to the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
The U.S. Treasury said the organization oversaw billions of dollars in assets as “a business juggernaut under the direct supervision of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that has a stake in nearly every sector of the Iranian economy, including energy, telecommunications, and financial services.”
“EIKO has systematically violated the rights of dissidents by confiscating land and property from opponents of the regime, including political opponents, religious minorities, and exiled Iranians,” Treasury said in 2021 in sanctioning Mokhber. The European Union also sanctioned Mokhber for a time with others over concerns then about Iran’s nuclear program.
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https://wtop.com/world/2024/05/who-is-irans-first-vice-president-mohammad-mokhber-appointed-acting-president-after-crash/
