Who is Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi?
Al Jazeera
Raisi – a hardline and religiously conservative politician – has deep connections in the judiciary and religious elite.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has disappeared after the helicopter he was in went down in the country’s East Azerbaijan province.
The 63-year-old political heavyweight has long been regarded as the natural successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the highest authority in Iran.
An established presence with deep connections in the judiciary and religious elite, Raisi – a hardline and religiously conservative politician – first ran for the presidency in 2017 but failed. He was eventually elected in 2021.
Raisi began studying at the renowned Qom religious seminary at the young age of 15, and proceeded to learn under several of the top clerics of the time.
In his early 20s, he was appointed prosecutor in successive cities until he went to the capital Tehran to work as a deputy prosecutor.
