Ebrahim Raisi
Iran's eighth president, 2021-2024; died in helicopter crash 19 May 2024.
Last refreshed: 10 May 2026
How did Raisi's helicopter crash reshape the Iran that is now in a war?
Timeline for Ebrahim Raisi
Mentioned in: Mokhber calls Hormuz an atomic-bomb equivalent
Iran Conflict 2026- How did Ebrahim Raisi die?
- Raisi died in a helicopter crash on 19 May 2024 in East Azerbaijan Province, Iran, near the Azerbaijani border in fog and poor visibility. The crash also killed Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six others.
- Who replaced Raisi as Iran's president?
- First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber served as acting president for ten weeks. A snap election was held and reformist Masoud Pezeshkian won, taking office in late July 2024.
- What was Raisi's role in the 1988 executions?
- Raisi was a member of the four-person Death Commission in 1988 that oversaw the mass execution of political prisoners in Iran. He was placed under US sanctions in 2019 for this role. The Abdorrahman Boroumand Center has documented the executions in detail.Source: Abdorrahman Boroumand Center
- How did Raisi's death affect the Iran nuclear negotiations?
- Raisi's death triggered a snap election that brought reformist Pezeshkian to power. However, the Supreme Leader's direction of nuclear and Hormuz policy has continued on the same trajectory, and Mokhber's elevation as senior adviser has kept the hardline deterrence logic inside the decision-making core.
Background
Ebrahim Raisi's death in a helicopter crash on 19 May 2024 in East Azerbaijan Province set the chain of events that put Mohammad Mokhber in the acting presidency and ultimately brought reformist Masoud Pezeshkian to power via a snap election. Raisi is the background figure in the current Iran crisis because the political landscape Iran is now navigating, with Pezeshkian mediating and Mokhber advising Khamenei, was shaped by his sudden absence.
Raisi served as Iran's eighth president from August 2021 until his death. He was a hardline cleric and jurist closely aligned with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. He had previously served as Chief Justice of Iran from 2019 to 2021 and as Prosecutor General of Tehran in the 1980s, where he was a member of the four-person "Death Commission" that oversaw the mass execution of political prisoners in 1988. That episode made him a permanent target of international human rights documentation, including the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center. He was under US sanctions since 2019 for his role in those executions.
Raisi's 2024 presidential term was ended by a helicopter crash near the Azerbaijani border in fog and poor visibility. The crash also killed Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six others. The official investigation attributed the crash to mechanical failure in poor weather. His death triggered a constitutional handover to First Vice President Mokhber and a 50-day snap election, fundamentally reshaping Iran's political trajectory at a moment when nuclear negotiations were already under strain.
