Ebrahim Raisi, in death, leaves Iran in crosshairs within & outside
Image credit X @ShykhSulaiman
Iran at crossroads after death of Ebrahim Raisi in helicopter crash
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, May 20: Iran officially announced death of President Ebrahim Raisi after finding his body parts in the wreckage at the helicopter crash site in the western parts of the country. Iran will now head for an election within 50 days to elect a new president.
Nine persons, including Raisi, 63, and foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, died in the helicopter crash in the forested area. Both Raisi and Abdollahian were travelling to the border areas to inaugurate a dam
Raisi had first gained a US sanction for his role in the executions of political leaders in Iran. In 1989, he was a part of a committee which oversaw the execution of the political leaders.
Raisi was a hardliner. Within the Middle East diplomatic community, Raisi was seen as a chief patron of the Hamas and the Hezbollah. Raisi had recently met the leaders of the Hamas and the Hezbollah in Tehran.
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Elected President in 2021, Raisi had a short stint at the helm of the affairs of Iran. His tenure was marked with sharpening geostrategic development in the region.
On his watch, Iran earned the ire of the international community, as well as the United Nations Human Rights Council, for the killing of 22-year-old Mehsa Amini.
In her death, Amini led the most powerful internal protests in Iran against the religious orthodox. Political opponents accused Raisi of brutal oppression of the protestors in schools and colleges in Iran.
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Subsequently, Iran dropped moral guards on wearing of hijab by girls and women. But the protests were unabated.
Raisi was also at the centre stage of the crippling economy of Iran in the face of the western sanctions. He sought to find a way out of the western sanctions by stitching an alliance with Russia and China.
Raisi had defeated Hassan Rouhani in the 2021 elections. The low voters’ turnout had eroded the credibility of the election. Raisi was a critic of the nuclear negotiation with the US.
Having studied religion at Qom, Raisi had risen the religious seminary to stake claims at the top echelons in the 1990s. Before becoming the president, he headed the judiciary.
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“In 1989, Raisi was appointed prosecutor of Tehran after the death of Iran’s first Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Raisi continued to rise through the ranks under Khomeini’s replacement, Ayatollah Khamenei, becoming chairman of the Astan Quds Razavi, the biggest religious endowment in Mashhad, on March 7, 2016, which cemented his status in Iran’s establishment,” wrote Al Jazeera.
Under the watch of Raisi, Iran and Israel conflicts turned vicious. The October Hamas attacks on Israel unleashed a wave of events which embroiled Iran in conflict with Israel.
Some of the top-ranking military leaders of Iran were killed. The Damascus bombing of the Iranian embassy nearly brought Iran and Israel to a war.
Iran fired more than 100 missiles and launched drone attacks on Israel in the aftermath of the Damascus bombing. There were reports of blasts within Iran afterwards.
Iran also invited the ire of the US for supplying drones and missiles to Russia in aide to Moscow for the Ukraine War. Iran was also accused of arming the Houthis to launch attacks on ships in the Red Sea.
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