Original report published by Radio France Internationale on May 20, 2024

Article 131 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran provides that, “in the event of the death, dismissal, resignation, absence or illness of more than two months of the President,” it is “the first vice-president who will assume the powers of the president.” This is a process validated by Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei who ultimately appointed Mohammad Mokhber as the interim president on, May 20.

Aged 68, Mohammad Mokhber was born in Dezfoul in the southwest of Iran, where he completed higher studies in management and economics. Coming from a family of clerics, he began his career in the telecommunications sector, then became vice-governor of the province of Khouzestan in the 1990s. But it is his work within the Bonyad-e-Mostazafan or the Mostazafan Foundation, which probably constitutes the key point of his political rise.

The Mostazafan Foundation, where he rose to the rank of vice president for trade and transportation in the early 2000s, is officially a charitable organization, but described by the US Treasury as “a key patronage network for the supreme leader” which includes stakes in major sectors of the Iranian economy.

Mokhbet also worked for ten years for Sina Bank, a private bank controlled by the same foundation, and in 2007 joined the Setad Ejrai Farman-e Imam, the Executive Headquarters of the Imam’s orders, responsible for the management of property held by Khamenei.

These three organizations are part of a conglomerate entirely controlled by Khamenei, which has billions of dollars in assets. An opaque network of financial entities linked to the Iranian state, without really belonging to it. The Mostazafan Foundation alone is considered “the second largest company in the country after the oil company and the largest holding company in the Middle East, which controls entire sections of the Iranian economy,” recalls Dr. Azadeh Thiriez-Arjangi, researcher-teacher and vice-president of the scientific council of the Ricoeur Fund.

Sanctions and Corruption

Since then, Dr. Thiriez-Arjangi points out, the name of Mohammad Mokhber “appears on the boards of directors of around fifteen very important institutions” and he has become a member of the Council for Discernment of the regime, an entity controlled by Khamenei . Mokhber’s omnipresence can be explained by the trust placed in him by Khamenei, which developed during many years at the Mostazafan foundation and the Setad. His service to Khamenei probably earned him the appointment of first vice-president in 2021, following the election of Ebrahim Raïssi.

Mokhber distinguished himself above all with the agreement for the sale of ballistic missiles and additional drones to Russia, whose army is still engaged in Ukraine. To establish this partnership, Mokhber led a delegation to Moscow in October 2022. It is also for his alleged involvement in “nuclear or ballistic activities” that the EU had included him on a list of people to sanctioned in 2010, before withdrawing it two years later. He was also placed by the US Treasury in 2021 on the Specially Designated Nationals, which is a list of individuals targeted by sanctions.

But Mokhber is also accused of being involved in several corruption cases linked to the sale of Iranian oil, notably with his son Sajjad, and of questionable management of the coronavirus crisis. Mokhber in fact oversaw Setad’s efforts to manufacture a vaccine against COVID-19, through one of his foundations. However, according to the Associated Press, “only a fraction” of the tens of millions of promised doses “has been made public, with no explanation.”

A dubious figure almost unknown before the 2000s, Mohammad Mokhber’s career suggests the profile of an influential figure who knew how to maneuver behind the scenes, familiar with the financing networks important to the regime’s power apparatus. If, at this stage, he is not one of the potential candidates for the future presidential election, the philosopher Dr. Thiriez-Arjangi would ultimately not be surprised to see him in the race, as “he is at the heart of the system, placed in crucial and strategic positions.” Yet, on Iranian social networks, we are especially sorry with this expression: “the butcher leaves, the thief arrives.”

Translated from the original French