Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was seen as integral to the republic’s succession plan, says the Financial Times' Middle East editor Andrew England.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was seen as integral to the republic’s succession plan, says the Financial Times' Middle East editor Andrew England.
Raisi’s success at the ballot box was carefully - and conspicuously - choreographed with leading conservative and reformist candidates barred from running. The 63-year-old hardline cleric was widely considered to be a protege of Khamenei, and a frontrunner to succeed him when the time came. Raisi’s death will not have any marked impact on key domestic and foreign policy decisions, which are ultimately determined by Khamenei. But the republic will be loath to show any signs of weakness or political instability after waves of anti-regime protests and during a period of heightened tensions with the West and Israel, fuelled by the seven-month Israel-Hamas war.Many Iranians can be expected to vent their anger by simply not voting.
Tehran has openly supported the militant groups it backs in the so-called Axis of Resistance - including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Iraqi and Syrian militias, Houthi rebels in Yemen and Hamas - as they have mounted attacks against Israeli and US forces in the region. But it has repeatedly insisted that they are acting independently and that Tehran does not want a full-blown regional war or direct conflict with the United States.
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