Iran: Mohammad Mokhber, Interim President

According to Articles 130 and 131 of the first edition of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran (adopted in 1979), the first vice president – Mohammad Mokhber – will step in and assume the duties of the president after the death of President Ebrahim Raisi.

The Constitution stipulates that these responsibilities are transferred to the First Vice President with the approval of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, and within 50 days the country needs to go to an election to elect a new president.

According to the Iranian political hierarchy, the head of the state is the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, and the president is considered the head of the government, the second-in-command.

In case of sudden death, the first vice president is expected to guide the country through this transitional period until new presidential elections are held. 

The Iranian constitution was amended in 1989, when important changes were instituted. 

Here are some key facts about Mohammad Mokhber:

As interim president, 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 September 01, 1955, Mokhber, like Raisi, is seen as close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has the last say in all matters of state. Mokhber became first vice president in 2021 when Raisi was elected president.

Mokhber was part of a team of Iranian officials who visited Moscow in October last year and agreed to supply surface-to-surface missiles and more drones to Russian military. The team also included two senior officials from Iran's Revolutionary Guards and an official from the Supreme National Security Council.

Mokhber had previously been head of Setad, an investment fund linked to the supreme leader.

In 2010, the European Union included 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, 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.