Ebrahim Raisi, 63, a hard-line religious cleric, was elected president of Iran in 2021.
In his tenure as president, he has overseen a strategy to expand his country’s regional influence — backing militant proxies across the Middle East, expediting the country’s nuclear program and bringing the country to the brink of war with Israel.
But in the same period, Iran experienced its largest antigovernment protests in decades and a severe economic downturn driven by international sanctions and high unemployment.
Mr. Raisi has been seen as the likely successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as supreme leader, the highest political and religious position in the Islamic republic.
Mr. Raisi, born in the eastern city of Mashhad in 1960 to a devoutly religious family, was swept up in the fervor of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, which toppled the country’s monarchy in 1979.
Persons:
Ebrahim Raisi, Raisi, Ali Khamenei
Locations:
Iran, Israel, Mashhad