President of Iran: Ebrahim Raisi – Ultra-conservative and vehement opponent of Israel | EUROtoday

Status: 00:45 a.m | Reading time: 3 minutes

SBlack turban, black coat: It's clear from his garments that Ebrahim Raisi isn’t solely a politician, but in addition a priest. The 63-year-old ultra-conservative has been president of Shiite Iran since summer season 2021. Since Sunday, quite a few rescue staff have been looking for Raisi within the northwest of the nation – in keeping with state media, his helicopter is lacking after an “accident” in a forested mountainous area of East Azerbaijan province. Television photos confirmed supporters praying in Raisi's hometown.

After his election in June 2021, Raisi introduced that he would put the combat towards poverty and corruption on the middle of his politics. Years of sturdy inside and worldwide protests and tensions adopted.

In current months, Raisi has appeared primarily as a vehement opponent of Iran's arch-enemy Israel within the Gaza warfare. He assured Iran's assist for the Islamist Hamas within the Gaza Strip, which attacked Israel on October seventh and thus triggered the Gaza War. On Sunday, shortly earlier than his helicopter disappeared, he reiterated that Palestine was “the most important issue in the Muslim world.”

For the primary time in mid-April, beneath Raisi's management, Shiite Iran even went as far as to fireplace lots of of drones and missiles immediately from its soil at Israel – nearly all of which have been intercepted with the assistance of the USA and different allies. Iran's rapprochement with its long-time rival Saudi Arabia, which was achieved earlier than the Gaza warfare, has stopped in the meanwhile.

Born in November 1960 within the holy metropolis of Mashhad in northeastern Iran, Raisi had a distinguished profession within the nation's judicial system: at simply 20 years outdated, he turned prosecutor normal of Karaj close to Tehran – shortly after the Islamic revolution of 1979.

For the exiled opposition, his title is indelibly linked to mass executions of Marxists and different leftists in 1988, when Raisi was deputy prosecutor of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran. He denies any duty for it. He then served as Attorney General in Tehran from 1989 to 1994, then as Deputy Chief of Justice for a decade from 2004 and at last as Attorney General of Iran.

In 2016, Iran's religious chief, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to whom Raisi is shut, appointed him head of the highly effective Astan Kods Rasawi Foundation, which incorporates an empire of corporations, banks and plenty of different establishments in addition to huge actual property. Three years later he turned the nation's head of justice.

Raisi has been on a US sanctions listing since 2019. He is accused of significant human rights crimes, which Tehran strongly rejects.

Raisi, who is alleged to have little charisma, studied theology and Islamic legislation. In the Iranian media he was already thought of a doable successor to the 85-year-old religious chief Ayatollah Khamenei. He was additionally a member of the skilled council that determines the religious chief.

Married to an academic scientist

Raisi emerged stronger from the parliamentary elections in March and mid-May – the primary nationwide vote for the reason that mass protests following the dying of the younger Kurdish lady Masha Amini. She was taken into police custody for allegedly violating the strict Islamic gown code requiring the carrying of a scarf and died shortly later in hospital.

After the parliamentary elections within the spring, Raisi was pleased about “the historic defeat for the enemies of Iran after the unrest” in 2022. Parliament, which begins work on May 27, is managed by conservatives and ultra-conservatives.

Raisi is married to Jamileh Alamolhada, who teaches training at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran. The couple has two daughters.