Who’s Iran’s first vp, Mohammad Mokhber, appointed performing president after helicopter crash?

DUBAI: Iran’s first Vice President Mohammad Mokhber was appointed as performing president of the Islamic Republic on Monday after the demise of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash within the nation’s northwest.

Mokhber, 68, largely has been within the shadows in comparison with different politicians in Iran’s Shiite theocracy. Raisi’s demise beneath the structure thrust Mokhber into public view. He’s anticipated to function caretaker president for some 50 days earlier than obligatory presidential elections in Iran.

Iran’s supreme chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei introduced Mokhber’s appointment in a condolence message he shared for Raisi’s demise within the crash Sunday. The helicopter was discovered Monday in northwestern Iran.

Regardless of his low-key public profile, Mokhber has held outstanding positions with within the nation’s energy construction, significantly in its bonyads, or charitable foundations. These teams had been fueled by donations or property seized after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, significantly these beforehand related to Iran’s shah or these in his authorities.

Mokhber oversaw a bonyad recognized in English because the Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order, or EIKO, referring to the late Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

The U.S. Treasury stated the group oversaw billions of {dollars} in property as “a enterprise juggernaut beneath the direct supervision of Supreme Chief Ali Khamenei that has a stake in almost each sector of the Iranian economic system, together with vitality, telecommunications, and monetary companies.”

“EIKO has systematically violated the rights of dissidents by confiscating land and property from opponents of the regime, together with political opponents, non secular minorities, and exiled Iranians,” the Treasury stated in 2021 in sanctioning Mokhber. The European Union additionally had sanctioned Mokhber for a time with others over issues then about Iran’s nuclear program.

As the pinnacle of EIKO, Mokhber oversaw an effort to make a COVID-19 vaccine throughout the top of the pandemic, pledging to make tens of tens of millions of doses. Solely a fraction of that ever made it to the general public, with out clarification.