After the sudden passing of late President Ebrahim Raisi, interim president Mohammad Mokhber reportedly spoke to the head of the terrorist organization Palestinian Islamic Jihad ( PIJ) over a phone call on Sunday.
” The fundamental strategy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in backing the Resistance Front, particularly the Arab resistance groups, does not change by the change of people”, Mokhber apparently assured , Ziad as- Nakhalah, the PIJ” secretary general”.
Following the deaths of Raisi, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and six others in a plane crash on May 19, Mokhber was appointed interim president. When the aircraft instantly lost contact with the ground as the group was leaving an Azerbaijani social engagement. Before confirming on May 20 that the plane had crashed and killed all on board, Egyptian officials initially claimed the plane had a “hard getting” that had” not been difficult.”
The nature of the crash has n’t been disclosed to the public by the Iranian Islamist regime. A preliminary report from the Persian Armed Forces, which was released on Thursday, stated that no evidence of sabotage, quite as bullet holes or incendiary residue, had been discovered, but did not offer any alternatives to the crash’s cause.
Photo taken on May 20, 2024, shows the shipwreck of the crashed aircraft near Varzaqan County, some 670 miles away from Tehran, Iran, on the images of Iran’s state- work IRIB Television. Ebrahim Raisi, the leader of Iran, and some of his companions, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir- Abdollahian, were confirmed dying on Monday night as the shipwreck of the helicopter’s aircraft was discovered near Varzaqan County after its Sunday crash in poor climate. ( Shadati/Xinhua via Getty )
Mokhber will serve as president until June 28 when” supreme leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will conduct a rigged election to choose Raisi’s real replacement. At the press time, Mohber has not indicated whether he will attempt to appear on the ballot or not.
In spite of Raisi’s passing, Iranian state media outlet PressTV reported on Sunday that Mokhber made time for a conversation with PIJ leadership to ensure that Iran would continue to be the world’s top state sponsor of terrorism. Raisi, known as the “butcher of Tehran,” has a reputation for being a ruthless prosecutor who helped to prevent the deaths of countless political dissidents and a fervent supporter of the global jihadist cause.
” He]Mokhber ] said that President Raeisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir- Abdollahian, who lost their lives in a helicopter crash last week, were seriously concerned about support for the resistance”, PressTV reported. The “resistance” is Iran’s catch- all term for the large number of radical Islamist terrorist organizations it funds in the Middle East, including PIJ, Hamas, the Yemeni Houthi organization, Lebanese Hezbollah, and others.
Mokhber appears to be placing a priority on making himself known to Tehran’s top leaders as the first step in ensuring the presidency. On Saturday, the interim leader met with , Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid, who was in the Iranian capital for bilateral talks.
Similar to the PIJ leader, Mokhber reportedly told Rashid that the late President Raisi would continue to pursue its policy of” to the government and people of Iraq” in the same way.
Iran has long supported the” Popular Mobilization Forces” ( PMF), a coalition of largely Shiite organizations that participated in the Sunni Islamic State” caliphate” in Iraq. Following the fall of the” caliphate”, Iraq legally integrated the PMF into the nation’s armed forces, but still struggles to control them. The” Islamic Resistance in Iraq” is thought to be the result of a defecting wing of PMF units, a flimsy term used to describe jihadists affiliated with Iran who have attempted to attack Israel since the horrific Hamas attack on October 7.
Following a massive meeting last week that featured representatives of at least six Iran-affiliated terrorist organizations, Mokhber’s meetings and calls came up next. The terrorists reportedly all attended Tehran for Raisi’s funeral and met with the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ( IRGC ) and its Quds Force, which is specialized in international terrorist operations. Hamas– whose “political” chief Ismail Haniyeh was allowed to speak at one of several funeral events for Raisi – was represented at the meeting, as well as PIJ, Hezbollah, the Houthis, the Iraqi “resistance” groups, and the” Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine”.
The participants at the meeting, according to the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency, “emphasized the need for the continuation of the fight and struggle until the Palestinian resistance’s complete and ultimate victory in the Gaza Strip.”
The Saudi news agency Al- Arabiya , translated , reports on the meeting as including a commitment from the group to ensure a” continuation of jihad” against Israel.
Mokhber came to power after a career that included managing the finances of various Khamenei trusts, the most recent of which he was in charge of being the EIKO ( the” Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order” ), also known as the Setad. As first vice president, appointed by Raisi, he was first in the line of succession when Raisi died on Sunday. Mokhber has not maintained a particularly active public persona, clashed frequently with prominent figures in the regime, or received any special praise.
Due to Raisi’s sudden passing, it is unclear how the presidency and the title of” supreme leader” will be reorganized. Many Iranian regime observers thought Raisi had begun preparing for his replacement after Khamenei, an octogenarian with alleged health problems. Following his death, speculation has landed on Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, as a potential new” supreme leader” – or presidential candidate.
The son of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mojtaba Khamenei, attends a demonstration to mark Jerusalem day in Tehran May 31, 2019. ( Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty )
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