Iran�s first Vice President Mohammad Mokhber was appointed as acting president of the Islamic Republic on Monday after the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in the country�s northwest.

Mokhber, 68, largely has been in the shadows compared to other politicians in Iran�s Shiite theocracy. Raisi�s death under the constitution thrust Mokhber into public view. He is expected to serve as caretaker president for some 50 days before mandatory presidential elections in Iran.

Iran�s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the announcement of Mokhber�s appointment in a condolence message he shared for Raisi�s death in the crash Sunday. The helicopter was found Monday in northwestern Iran.

Despite his low-key public profile, Mokhber has held prominent positions with in the country�s power structure, particularly in its bonyads, or charitable foundations. Those groups were fueled by donations or assets seized after Iran�s 1979 Islamic Revolution, particularly those previously associated with Iran�s shah or those in his government.

Mokhber oversaw a bonyad known in English as the Execution of Imam Khomeini�s Order, or EIKO, referring to the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

The U.S. Treasury said the organization oversaw billions of dollars in assets as �a business juggernaut under the direct supervision of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that has a stake in nearly every sector of the Iranian economy, including energy, telecommunications, and financial services.�

�EIKO has systematically violated the rights of dissidents by confiscating land and property from opponents of the regime, including political opponents, religious minorities, and exiled Iranians,� the Treasury said in 2021 in sanctioning Mokhber. The European Union also had sanctioned Mokhber for a time with others over concerns then about Iran�s nuclear program.

As the head of EIKO, Mokhber oversaw an effort to make a COVID-19 vaccine during the height of the pandemic, pledging to make tens of millions of doses. Only a fraction of that ever made it to the public, without explanation.

Mokhber previously worked in banking and telecommunications. He also worked at the Mostazafan Foundation, another bonyad that�s a major conglomerate that manages the country�s mega-projects and businesses. While there, he found himself entangled in a bitter legal dispute between mobile phone service providers Turkcell and South Africa�s MTN over potentially entering the Iranian market.

MTN ended up entering Iran. A Turkcell filing alleged Mokhber sought MTN�s help in securing �certain defense equipment� in exchange for potentially working with it as opposed to Turkcell.

Mokhber used �improper influence up to and including negotiating with and on behalf of the Supreme Leader in MTN�s favor,� Turkcell later alleged in a legal filing. An MTN report later said there were no arms transfers, though it acknowledge Mokhber was a player in Iran�s decision to go with MTN.

Iranian media reports suggest Mokhber, who holds a doctorate in international law, was crucial in Iranian efforts to bypass Western sanctions on its oil industry.

Mokhber has been a member of Iran�s Expediency Council since 2022, which advises the supreme leader, as well as settles disputes between parliament and the Guardian Council, Iran�s constitutional watchdog that also oversees the country�s elections.

Mokhber was born Sept. 1, 1955, in Dezful in Iran�s southwestern Khuzestan province to a clerical family. He served as an officer in the Revolutionary Guard�s medical corps during the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, according to the pressure group United Against Nuclear Iran.

�Mokhber used the vast wealth accumulated by EIKO � at the expense of the Iranian people�to reward regime insiders like himself,� UANI said. �Managing the patronage network endeared him to the supreme leader, but at a cost.�

(AP)