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By Brendan Cole
Senior Reporter
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Iran interim President Mohammad Mokhber is close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and has long-standing ties to his country's military establishment, reportedly helping Tehran to broker a deal to supply weapons to Russia's military.
Formerly the vice president, Mokhber has temporarily taken over the presidency following the death of Ebrahim Raisi, in a helicopter crash on Sunday, which also killed Iran's foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other officials.
"Mokhber's leadership style might differ from Raisi's in certain respects," Sina Toossi, a senior nonresident fellow at the Center for International Policy, told Newsweek. "While Raisi was seen as a protégé of Khamenei with a judicial background and a strong ideological bent, Mokhber is likely to bring a more technocratic approach to the presidency."
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Mokhber, 68, served as governor in his home province of Khuzestan, which borders Iraq and the Persian Gulf. He became his country's first vice president in 2021 when Raisi, a hard-liner, was elected president in a tightly controlled ballot.
"During the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, he served in the Revolutionary Guards' medical corps, underscoring his long-standing ties to the country's military establishment," said Toossi.
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He has a substantial background in managing key economic and administrative institutions closely tied to Khamenei, heading the powerful Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order (EIKO), as well as serving as a deputy at the Mostazafan Foundation.
Both of these are large business conglomerates integral to the supreme leader's patronage network, said Toossi. "These organizations are deeply embedded in Iran's economic landscape, with significant holdings in finance, energy, construction, and mining sectors."
In 2012 Mokhber was removed from a European Union sanctions list he had been placed on two years earlier for involvement in "nuclear or ballistic missile activities."
In 2021, Mokhber was sanctioned by the United States over EIKO's role in "confiscating land and property from opponents of the regime" and other human rights abuses.
Meanwhile, in October 2022, Mokhber was among Iranian officials who visited Moscow where they agreed to supply surface-to-surface missiles and more drones to Russia's military, according to Reuters.
Since the start of Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has relied on Iranian weaponry and know how, using so-called "kamikaze" or Shahed drones in hitting Ukrainian targets.
As interim president, Mokhber is part of a three-person council, along with the speaker of Parliament and the head of the judiciary, which will organize a new presidential election within 50 days.
Mokhber's main task is to manage the transition ahead of the upcoming presidential election. Khamenei's authority means that there is unlikely to be any substantial policy shifts, especially in foreign relations in the interim period.
"Mokhber's focus will likely be on maintaining stability and continuity rather than introducing significant changes," said Toossi.
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