Iran holds emergency meetings to appoint new president

The Iranian cabinet has convened a second emergency meeting in less than 24 hours to appoint Iran’s new president following the confirmation of President Ebrahim Raisi‘s death.

Local media reported on Monday that Iranian Vice-President Mohammad Mokhber had already chaired a meeting on Sunday evening after the helicopter carrying Raisi and nine others went missing over Iran’s northwest.

The report confirmed that Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian also died in the helicopter crash.

Raisi and Amirabdollahian were returning from a meeting with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev when their aircraft disappeared from radar on Sunday afternoon.

Following protocol, Vice-President Mokhber is expected to assume power, pending approval from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

New elections must be held within 50 days to appoint a new president.

The 64-year-old late president Ebrahim Raisi was born on December 14, 1960, in Mashhad, one of Iran’s holiest cities, which most likely contributed to his intensely religious upbringing.

His father was a priest, and Raisi followed in his footsteps by studying Islamic jurisprudence.

He attended the famed Qom Seminary, where he studied with some of Iran’s most prominent clerics, including Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s current Supreme Leader.

This education gave Raisi a solid basis in Shia Islamic theology and jurisprudence, which would be useful in his judicial and political careers.