The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Sayyed Ali Khamenei, today declared five days of national mourning after mourning the death of President Ebrahim Raisi and his companions in a plane crash.

The religious and political reference of the Iranian Revolution ratified Vice President Mohammad Mokhber as acting president, in accordance with Article 131 of the Constitution.

Khamenei called on Mokhber, along with the heads of the judiciary and legislature, to prepare for presidential elections within 50 days.

In this context, the Iranian government spokesman reported the appointment of Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Baqeri Kani as the nation’s interim foreign minister.

Earlier, acting President Mohammad Mokhber underlined the continuity of President Raisi’s path without interruption during an extraordinary session with the heads of the judiciary and the legislature.

On Monday, Iranian television confirmed the death of President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and their companions in a helicopter crash in East Azerbaijan.

Born on 14 December 1960 in the Noghan district of Mashhad, Ebrahim Raisi was an advocate of regional peace and stability as President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

He died on Sunday 19 May in a plane crash after a working tour of the province of East Azerbaijan in the north-west of the country.

Raisi was sworn in as the eighth president of the Islamic Republic on 3 August 2021 after winning 61.95 per cent of the vote.

At the age of 15, he entered the seminary in Qom and continued his studies at the Ayatollah Mousavinejad Theological School. He then obtained a doctorate in jurisprudence and private law from Shahid Motahari University.

His career in the judiciary began in 1980 at the age of 20 and in 1985 he was transferred to Tehran and appointed deputy prosecutor.

Raisi served as the capital’s public prosecutor from 1989 to 1994 when he was appointed head of the National Inspection Agency.

In 2004, he was appointed Vice President of the Judiciary, a position he held until 2012, when the Great Leader Khamenei appointed him Special Prosecutor General of the Clergy.

Two years later, he was appointed Prosecutor General of Iran and served in this position until 2016, when he became Custodian of the Astan Quds Razavi Shrine.

On 7 March 2019, the Great Leader Khamenei appointed him as President of the Judiciary in Iran.

Under his tenure, Iran developed a strong foreign policy, aimed at regaining its role as a central player in the region, committed to good neighbourliness and support for the Palestinian cause.

Last year, President Raisi’s tour of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba sent a symbolic message of unity in the face of a common enemy: the United States.

In light of the Israeli genocide against the people of Gaza, he emphasised that the Palestinian struggle had become the cause of the whole world.