Iran’s acting president: Who is Mohammad Mokhber?

First vice president Mohammad Mokhber, named Iran’s acting president after the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, has played a crucial role in bypassing Western sanctions on the Iranian oil industry.

Although the 68-year-old has largely been in the shadows compared to other leaders in Iran, Mokhber is known to be close to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Key posts

Mokhber is expected to serve as caretaker president for some 50 days before mandatory presidential elections in Iran.

He has held prominent positions within the country's power structure, particularly in its bonyads or charitable foundations.

Those groups were fuelled by donations or assets seized after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, particularly those previously associated with Iran's shah or those in his government.

US view

Mokhber oversaw a bonyad known in English as the Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order or EIKO, referring to the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

According to the US Treasury, the organisation has a stake in nearly every sector of Iran’s economy including energy, telecommunications and financial services.

“EIKO has systematically violated the rights of dissidents by confiscating land and property from opponents of the regime, including political opponents, religious minorities and exiled Iranians,” the Treasury said in 2021 while sanctioning Mokhber.

EU sanction

The European Union too sanctioned Mokhber over concerns then about Iran's nuclear programme but lifted the sanction two years later.

Mokhber previously worked in banking and telecommunications. He also worked at the Mostazafan Foundation, another bonyad that manages the country's mega-projects and businesses.

Western sanctions

Iranian media reports say that Mokhber, who holds a doctorate in international law, was crucial in Iran’s efforts to bypass the sanctions the West imposed on Iranian oil industry.

Mokhber has been a member of Iran's Expediency Council since 2022. This advises the supreme leader and settles disputes between parliament and the Guardian Council, Iran's constitutional watchdog that also oversees elections.

Clerical family

Mokhber was born on September 1, 1955, in Dezful in Iran's southwestern Khuzestan province to a clerical family. He served as an officer in the Revolutionary Guard's medical corps during the Iran-Iraq war.

He was appointed as first vice president in 2021 when Raisi was elected president.

Mokhber was part of a delegation of Iranian officials who visited Moscow in October and agreed to supply Russian military with surface-to-surface missiles and additional drones.