New Iran President No less a Sadistic Murderer Than Raisi

Cementing its brutal authoritarian rule in the wake of the helicopter crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi, Iran has named human rights abuser Mohammad Mokhber as acting president.

“Mr. Mokhber will manage the executive power in line with Article 131 of the Constitution and will coordinate with the heads of  the legislative and judicial branches to elect a new president within fifty days,” stated Supreme Leader Khamenei on Monday as quoted by the state-run MEHR News Agency.

Before assuming the vice-presidency in 2021, Mokhber rose quickly through the ranks of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the fanatical military force loyal to the anti-Israel regime in Tehran. As a commander in the IRGC’s elite Quds Force, he assisted in the brutal crackdown on dissidents during the waning years of the Iran-Iraq war. Human rights monitors have compiled extensive evidence since then of his complicity in torture, extrajudicial killings, and other unconscionable human rights violations.

The US Treasury Department has imposed multiple rounds of sanctions on Mokhber for his support of terrorist activities, regional destabilization efforts, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and human rights abuses. He was first sanctioned in 2010 for facilitating illegal transactions on behalf of the IRGC. More US sanctions hit Mokhber in 2017 after evidence was found that he illicitly shipped arms and assisted in human rights violations in Syria.