Who is Mohammad Mokhber, the man set to become Iran’s interim president?

TEHRAN – Mr Mohammad Mokhber, 68, Iran’s First Vice-President, is expected to become interim president following

the death of Mr Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash on May 19,

according to the country’s Constitution.

As interim president, Mr Mokhber will be part of a three-person council, along with the Speaker of Parliament and the head of the judiciary, that will organise a new presidential election within 50 days of the President’s death.

Born on Sept 1, 1955, Mr Mokhber, like Mr Raisi, is seen as being close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has the last say in all matters of state.

Mr Mokhber became First Vice-President in 2021, when Mr Raisi was elected President.

Mr Mokhber was part of a team of Iranian officials who visited Moscow in October 2023 and agreed to supply surface-to-surface missiles and more drones to Russia’s military, sources told Reuters at the time. The team also included two senior officials from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and an official from the Supreme National Security Council.

Mr Mokhber had previously been head of Setad, an investment fund linked to the Supreme Leader.

In 2010, the European Union included Mr Mokhber on a list of individuals and entities it was sanctioning for alleged involvement in “nuclear or ballistic missile activities”. Two years later, it removed him from the list.

In 2013, the US Treasury Department added Setad and 37 companies it oversaw to a list of sanctioned entities.

Setad, whose full name is Setad Ejraiye Farmane Hazrate Emam, or the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam, was set up under an order issued by the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khamenei’s predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. It ordered aides to sell and manage properties supposedly abandoned in the chaotic years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and channel the bulk of the proceeds to charity. REUTERS