Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has commenced his initial appointments after officially taking office by naming Mohammad Mokhber as his first vice president, according to the presidency. Mokhber's name appeared on the U.S. sanctions list. He had been reported in local news as the leading candidate for this position, previously serving as the head of the "Khomeini's Order Implementation Committee" (Setad), a conglomerate of state-linked companies. Mokhber was appointed in his previous role in 2007 by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after holding various official positions in Khuzestan Province, a rich oil region in the southwest of the country.
The Khomeini's Order Implementation Committee, founded in the late 1980s, was responsible for managing properties confiscated following the 1979 Revolution. Its activities have since expanded into various fields, including health, and it worked on the first local COVID-19 vaccine project, "COVIran Barakat", which received emergency use approval from health authorities in the Islamic Republic last June, marking the country as the most impacted by the pandemic in the Middle East.
Mokhber and Setad were sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in January, with Washington stating in its designation announcement that the committee "has a stake in almost every sector of the Iranian economy, including energy, telecommunications, and financial services." His appointment comes just days after the conservative Raisi officially took office, beginning a four-year presidential term that follows the moderate Hassan Rouhani. Raisi was installed by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday and took the oath of office before the Parliament on Thursday, with a two-week legal timeframe to propose his candidates for ministerial positions to gain the trust of the legislature.
Raisi previously served as the head of the judiciary, facing criticism from the West over human rights-related issues and has also been on the U.S. sanctions list since 2019. Raisi additionally announced the appointment of Gholam Hossein Esmaili, the spokesperson for the judiciary during his tenure, as the director of the president's office, noting that Esmaili is also listed on the European sanctions list for "human rights violations."
Raisi won the presidential elections without any serious opposition, and his presidency is expected to strengthen the dominance of the conservative faction within the ruling institutions of the Islamic Republic, especially following the significant victory in the 2020 parliamentary elections.
In a separate development, conservative lawmaker Ali Reza Zakani was elected as the mayor of Tehran on Sunday, according to the official news agency. The agency reported that Zakani, a former candidate for the 2021 presidential elections, received the majority of votes from the city council members but will not assume his duties until he resigns from the Parliament. Zakani had served as a representative in three legislative terms from 2004 to 2016 before returning to the Parliament following the 2020 elections. He was also one of the seven candidates approved by the Guardian Council to run in the 2021 presidential elections before withdrawing to endorse Raisi. The 55-year-old Zakani, a specialist in nuclear medicine, succeeds the previous mayor, Pirouz Hanachi, who has extensive experience in public service and civil organization.
