Close allies: Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the man who was expected to succeed him, President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopted crash on May 19 2024.
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Middle East expert Scott Lucas answers our questions about the politicians vying to become the next president of Iran.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, speaks to the media after casting his vote during the 2024 parliamentary elections in Tehran, Iran.
Abedin Taherkenareh / EPA
The late President Ebrahim Raisi was supposedly being groomed to succeed an aging Ali Khamenei. The succession is a complex process, more dependent on politics than religion.
Ebrahim Raisi held substantial sway over Iran’s domestic and foreign policies. So, how will the regime fill his void at a challenging time for the country?
Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, is reported by state media to have died following a helicopter crash.
Iranian Presidency Office via AP
How far the violent exchanges between Israel and Iran will escalate may well hinge on how strong the two sides’ leader need to appear to their own people.
As Israel prepares for a land invasion of Gaza, tensions are rising in the region between Iran and the US.
Unrest: the murder of Mahsa Amini sparked an explosion of protest on the streets of Iran, which has been met with brutality by the country’s security forces.
EPA-EFE/stringer
After seven decades of oppression, Iranians yearn for democracy and are willing to risk their lives to win it.
On International Women’s Day, March 8 2022, demonstrations against the Iranian government’s treatment of women took place in cities across the world.
EPA-EFE/Isabel Infantes
Iranian protesters aren’t satisfied winning small battles within the Islamic regime. Their aim is a revolution that will result in universal human rights.
Iranians protest in Istanbul: anger continues to grow despite the regime’s crackdowns.
EPA-EFE/Sedat Suna
Iran’s constitution guarantees human rights but its government doesn’t.
Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a Kyiv residential building destroyed by a drone that local authorities consider to be Iranian-made.
Oleksii Chumachenko/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Iran has a growing role in the Ukraine war, helping Russia augment its dwindling weapons supplies. That may help Russia, but it also serves Iran’s national interests.
Casting off oppression: women are taking off their compulsory hijab in protest against oppression.
EPA-EFE/stringer
Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, women in Iran have been forced to accept second-class citizenship, as Shiite religious leaders control most aspects of women’s lives.
In July 2022, Iran provided the Russian military with training for using Iranian-produced weapons, including the Shahed-129 drone, displayed here at a 2019 military show in Tehran.
Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The election result seems a foregone conclusion, but the country’s political future is far from certain.
Iranian worshippers attend a mourning prayer for slain Iranian Revolutionary Guards Major General Qassem Soleimani in Iran’s capital, Tehran, on Jan. 3, 2020.
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Klaus W. Larres, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
President Trump’s Iran policy took a dramatic turn when the US killed Iran’s top military commander in a drone strike. To avoid war, one foreign policy scholar says Trump has to reverse his stance.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, leading the Eid al-Fitr prayer ceremony in Tehran in early June.
Iranian Supreme Leader's Office/EPA
Donald Trump stepped back from launching US airstrikes inside Iran, but the conflict is unabated and there appears to be no way out of confrontation for now.