Ebrahim Raisi

The face of a man who never smiles.

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“”Iran’s new president, known as the Butcher of Tehran, is an extremist responsible for the deaths of thousands of Iranians. He is committed to the regime's nuclear ambitions and to its campaign of global terror.

—Yair Lapid

Ebrahim Raisolsadati, commonly known as Ebrahim Raisi (1960–2024), was the president of Iran from 2021 to 2024. He was a sayyid, a descendant of Muhammad (which are identified by wearing a black turban). Prior to his stint as president, he was also an Islamic jurist as well. Despite having presented himself as a moderate and an anti-corruption leader, he was an Islamist and a fascist responsible for grave human rights abuses and had overseen political repressions throughout his tenure as president and as a politician.

As prosecutor general of Tehran between 1989 and 1994, Raisi earned the nickname Butcher of Tehran due to his role in overseeing the execution of thousands of political prisoners (among other crimes). Unsurprisingly, his penchant for rule by violence continued into his presidency — after the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022 (who was killed after morality police detained her for allegedly not wearing the hijab properly), the government of Raisi violently suppressed protesters, enforced an Internet blackout, arrested journalists, and punished any public criticism of the government.

Raisi’s theocratic politics, macho strongman posturing, brutal political repression campaigns, and nationalistic racism have been noted by several commentators to be a light form of fascism, not dissimilar to American religious fascism or Hindutva.

While an ardent Islamist and in many ways an Iranian/Persian fascist, Raisi was very much an apparatchik who did whatever pleased Khamenei so he could burnish his cred in the run up to Khamenei's inevitable succession. He became world-famous after launching the largest drone and missile attack in history against Israel in retaliation for an Israeli strike that killed an Iranian general in 2024.

Many thought Raisi was the man most likely to succeed Khamenei as Supreme Leader of Iran, but he would never get the chance. In May 2024, Raisi was killed in an accidental helicopter crash. He traveled to the border with Azerbaijan to inaugurate a new water dam with the Azeri president. On his way back, the terrain was a dense mountainous forest which turned foggy. Instead of waiting until the fog dissipated, Raisi's helicopter tried to fly through the fog, and as you can imagine, was unable to handle the strong winds. Raisi and the foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, were both killed in the crash. People inside Iran and outside the country were in no mood to mourn a monster, with many Iranians in the diaspora and in the country openly celebrating the death of the butcher. Although several world leaders did send condolences, such as Putin, Xi, and even Modi. Though other people, such as Trump, lauded his death and stated he “died like a dog”, which was condemned by some, such as India Today.

Rise to power

Raisi was born to a clerical family in Mashhad and was educated in Islamic studies under Ruhollah Khomeini himself. He became the Prosecutor of Karaj and Hamadan in 1981, and was appointed as Prosecutor of Hamadan Province after four months. During the 1980s, he was responsible for ordering the execution and slaughter of thousands of protesters.

Raisi campaigned as an opponent of then-president Hassan Rouhani. After Raisi was elected, many opposed his ascendancy to power, including former Iranian president Ahmadinejad, who called out Raisi for his extremism.

Becoming president

Rouhani was term-limited in 2021, but by then, his faction had no chance at winning again. Khamenei, frustrated with the reform camp, threw his support behind former Chief Justice Ebrahim Raisi, a longtime hardliner who previously lost to Rouhani in 2017.

Raisi was elected president during the 2021 election in Iran, beating Mohsen Rezaee and Abdonnaser Hemmati. From there, he continued to paint himself as an anti-corruption politician, and dealt poorly with the COVID-19 pandemic in the country (which was not entirely his fault as the country failed to respond properly to initial cases in 2020). However, he did little to change the policies and efficiently deal with COVID-19, even lamenting that the country was lagging behind in dealing with the pandemic.

Theocracy

Raisi was an ultra-religious reactionary and a theocrat who believed Iran is a Muslim country and should remain so as such. He and his administration had made baseless claims that Iran is a proudly Muslim-majority country, despite evidence from polls and surveys conducted privately showing otherwise. Raisi ruled with an iron fist under the will of the Ayatollah, instilling his religious views into the government, though he had also done his fair share of damage to Iranian democracy.

An example of Raisi’s extreme adherence to sharia law was his brutal crackdowns on young protestors since the death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022, especially women who engaged in protests by removing their hijabs to show their hair and burned their hijabs as a rebellious sign of protest. This was the single most intense period of modern Iranian history post-revolution; people displayed acts of civil disobedience that were frankly not seen since the Shah. The Amini protests were analogues to the George Floyd protests over in America, with many calling it the biggest threat to the regime in its history as an Islamic Republic. While many were killed and arrested, most were pardoned a year after the protests.

Antisemitism and Holocaust denial

Raisi made several statements denying the Holocaust. In an interview with the United States television show 60 Minutes, he downplayed the Holocaust and claimed that "there are some signs that it happened but it should be investigated further". Because of his antisemitic statements, he received praise from white nationalists and neo-Nazis in the West (despite being an actual Aryan country, though this is why Iran is universally praised by the alt-right).

In 2022, during protests by young Iranians against the tyranny of the Islamic regime, Raisi blamed the protests on America and the Zionist regime attempting to undermine Iran.

Anti-Christian bigotry

Despite Raisi claiming to be friendly to Christian leaders in Western countries, his regime has been as bigoted against Christians as it has been against Jews. Christians and other religious minorities are some of the first religious minority groups to feel the oppressive thumb of the Iranian government.

Several human rights organizations reported that Raisi's administration imprisoned religious minorities such as atheists, deists, agnostics, Hindus, Zoroastrians, Buddhists, Bahai's, Christians, and Jews among other groups on the basis of their religious identity. UN experts stated that disturbing cases of religious persecution rose after Raisi took office.

Homophobia

Raisi referred to the LGBT community as "savagery" and advocated for allowing the death penalty on gay citizens. The Iranian government led harassment campaigns against its gay and trans citizens and falsely charged them simply for being themselves. Raisi also sanctioned the execution of LGBT citizens and activists for spreading what he claims as "degeneracy".

Raisi praised other homophobic leaders and dictatorships (such as Uganda) and attacked the West for their acceptance of LGBT rights.

In spite of harsh treatment within the country, Iran’s LGBTQ+ community (including LGBT allies) has been going strong against government crackdowns, especially since the protests against the death of Mahsa Amini.

Misogyny

Raisi was known for his abhorrent record on women’s rights on safety in Iran. He and his administration were responsible for the rise of violent attacks against women and girls, especially after the anti-hijab protests that followed the death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of the morality police. Iranian women protesting against the regime have been kidnapped, tortured, and killed, only creating more anger within the country and for the country's women. Some of the crimes Raisi was responsible for were (just to name a few) the execution of 30 women, the slaughter of 400 women, the torture of 36 women, and the lashing of 24 women.

Politicide

Raisi called for politicides of his opponents, suppressing dissent from those he saw as not aligned with the regime. An example of this was the 1988 executions, when he carried out a mass murder of political opponents under the order of Ruhollah Khomeini. Raisi also ordered a heavy internet crackdown and had most of the internet blocked within the country (meaning no access to sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.).

Since the protests that began in September 2022, Raisi cracked down heavily on the protestors, heavily monitoring them and their families and sanctioning torturing them to death. These authoritarian actions and his arch-conservative style of governance had led him to be labeled as a fascist and compared to fascists like Hitler.

Friendliness with fellow authoritarians

Raisi had been friendly with fellow fascists such as Bashar al-Assad and Erdoğan (two other Islamist dictators), as well as Modi (an Islamophobe and the leader of another actual Aryan country). Raisi called for establishing relations with Saudi Arabia and their leaders during times of lessening tensions between the two countries as a result of the foreign policy incompetence of the United States and aid from China to strengthen ties. Despite this possible chance of a relationship, Iran has adopted the ideological position of anti-Arabism from the Pan-Iranist Party during the proxy conflict with Saudi Arabia.

Raisi had also supported Putin and his invasion of Ukraine by supplying Russia with weapons in addition to meeting with and calling Putin to state his support for his military actions and establishing deeper ties and relationships between the two countries. This is mostly because both countries are opposed to the West because of crippling sanctions and anti-American sentiment from the government, and the war gives Iran an advantage to supply its oil to Russia and boost its unstable economy. However, it's likely only a matter of time until Iran pulls its support for Russia much like every other country has done, as supporting a pariah state is the worst decision you can possibly make for your own country.

General human rights violations

Raisi was responsible for a number of human rights violations and has been called to be tried in international court by Amnesty International. His invitation to the US and his subsequent speech at the United Nations General Assembly was heavily criticized by human rights groups and by people on the left and the right.

Despite Raisi ranting about human rights in a speech he made at the UN headquarters (with an iota of legitimate criticism from western hypocrisy), his own forces suppressed dissent and human rights in Iran. Because of his extremism, many observers of the events worldwide worried about the possible events that could unfold as Iran's access to nuclear armament could easily set off a war in the region not unlike the war in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.

Raisi’s general treatment of Iranian citizens was criticized by various world leaders outside the West as well, brought to the attention of the media from Iranian dissidents. Another example of his blatant disregard for human life was the spat between him and the Azerbaijani forces, so the Azerbaijani president cancelled a meeting with the Iranian leader due to tensions with Iran and their leaders which led to the deaths of several hundred soldiers on both sides.

Undignified end

Raisi died in a helicopter that crash-landed in a way that media outlets initially euphemistically called a "hard landing". His status was unknown at the time while there was a search and rescue operation under way. After several hours of searching by Iranian authorities, his body was found and he was confirmed dead.

Why Raisi's helicopter crashed is unknown, but one main theory is that the old craft malfunctioned. US sanctions have made spare parts difficult for Iran to obtain for aircraft in general, which often fly without safety checks. Poor weather conditions may also have made the flight risky. Sabotage however can't be excluded as another possibility. Former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif pointed to the sanctions, in that way blaming the US for the crash.

See also

• Mahmoud Ahmedinejad - another Iranian fascist who served as president.
• Ali Khamenei - his commander and superior.
• Mohammad Hosseini - another sayyid and Iranian fascist.