Iranian Presidential candidate Ebrahim Raisi speaks during a campaign meeting at the Mosalla mosque in Tehran, Iran.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Raisi is viewed as hardline and
there would be major implications for the US and Israel if he succeeds
Khamenei as opposed to some more reform-minded candidates.
Recent months have seen growing signs that the head of Iran’s judiciary,
Ebrahim Raisi, has emerged as the leading candidate to succeed Ali
Khamenei as Supreme Leader, Iran expert Raz Zimmt wrote in an INSS
posting on Wednesday.
Raisi is viewed as hardline and there would
be major implications for the US and Israel if he succeeds Khamenei as
opposed to some more reform-minded candidates.
Zimmt said that since Raisi’s appointment as head of the judiciary in
March 2019, the conservative cleric has expanded his efforts to advance
changes in the legal system, improve his public image, and increase his
media exposure.
This would always be important for someone like Raisi who is on the short-list to succeed the 80-year-old Khamenei.
But
the new marketing effort, and the fact that Khamenei is overtly
supporting these efforts, take on even larger significance when viewed
in light of Raisi’s loss to Hassan Rouhani in the May 2017 presidential
elections by a vote total of 23 million to 16 million.
Khamenei’s
message appears to be clear: he does not care that Raisi lost to
Rouhani, he wants Raisi as his successor or at least wants to continue
to promote him as a leading figure.
Zimmt did note that “it is
still too early to assess Raisi’s chances of winning the battle of
succession for the leadership of Iran, which will necessarily be
affected by the timing of Khamenei’s departure from the political map.”
However, he added that Raisi’s “closeness to the Supreme Leader, his
experience in the judicial authority, his tenure as chairman of the
Astan Quds Razavi Foundation (and the Imam Reza Shrine) in the city of
Mashhad and his hardline positions, alongside his increasing efforts to
improve his public standing, make him the leading candidate at this
stage in the battle of succession.”
Raisi was born in December 1960 in the city of Mashhad.
Since
the early 1980s, he has filled a series of positions in the judicial
system, including Tehran prosecutor, head of the General Inspection
Office of the judicial authority, first deputy chief justice, and
attorney-general of Iran.
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