TEHRAN – Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber takes over as interim president following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi.

Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, the governor of East Azerbaijan Province, and the representative of the Leader in the province were killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday afternoon.

Mokhber will remain in the post until a new presidential election is held within 50 days. He has said the government will continue the policies of the late president.

In a condolence message over the passing of President Raisi on Monday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, “Based on Article 131 of the Constitution, Mr. Mokhber will take over the position of the management of the executive power and he is tasked along with the heads of the judicial and legislative powers to arrange an election to elect new president maximumly within 50 days.”

In accordance with Articles 130 and 131 of the first edition of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran adopted in 1979, the first vice president assumes the duties of the president if the president is unable to fulfill his legal duties due to dismissal, resignation, absence, illness, or death.

The Constitution stipulates that these responsibilities are transferred to the first vice president with the approval of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, and in 50 days the country needs to go to polls to elect a new president.

Speaking in the cabinet on Monday, Mokhber described the death of President Raisi as a great tragic event but said due to the leadership of Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei the Islamic Republic system has reached a degree of stability that such events cannot cause the least problem in governing the country.

Mokhber also hosted a meeting with Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Judiciary chief Mohseni Ejei on Monday morning to assess the assigned duties following the death of the president. Ghalibaf and Ejei promised to fully cooperate with the interim president to carry out his duties.

Mokhber said the Leader of the Islamic Revolution and the Iranian nation “should feel assured that our path is the path of the popular president (Ebrahim Raisi) and that serving the people will not be stopped.”

Before becoming the first vice president in 2021 when Raisi was elected president, Mokhber served as head of the Setad Ejraiye Farmane Hazrate Emam (the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam), an investment fund set up under an order issued by Imam Khomeini that its main duty is to help the poor.