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Ebrahim Raisi, who was accused of being involved in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988, won a landslide victory in the Iranian presidential election, prompting officials in Israel to issue a warning to the new administration.
“There will be no choice [now] but to go back and prepare attack plans for Iran’s nuclear program,” one senior Israeli source said in an interview. “This will require budgets and the reallocation of resources.”
Lior Haiat, a spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Ministry, called Raisi the “most extremist president to date.”
If you have been following the relationship between Israel and Iran, you might be surprised to hear that Israel’s attack plans were ever shelved. The Trends Journal has reported a stealth war unfolding between the two countries for months. (See: “IRAN BLAMES ISRAEL FOR NUCLEAR FACILITY EXPLOSION,” “ISRAEL TARGETS IRANIAN OIL SHIPMENTS TO SYRIA.”)
Yair Lapid, the leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party and former TV presenter, took to Twitter on Saturday to warn about Raisi’s election win.
“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,” he tweeted. He said the election “should prompt renewed determination to immediately halt Iran’s nuclear program and put an end to its destructive regional ambitions.”
Raisi is 60 years old and will replace President Hassan Rouhani in early August. Rouhani’s presidency is seen by many as the one that got away. The Financial Times reported that he was elected based on his willingness to hold talks with Washington, and—in 2015—signed the historic nuclear deal. The report said Tehran’s GDP sank when then-President Donald Trump backed out of the deal and “then came the pandemic, further exacerbating economic woes.”
The Associated Press reported that Rouhani was asked about Raisi in 2017 and seemed to play down his prospects, saying he only knew about “executions and imprisoning” people.
The AP reported that Raisi is already sanctioned by the U.S. The report said the election saw a historic low turnout and “became more of a coronation after his strongest competition found themselves disqualified from running in Saturday’s vote.”
Raisi, who was born in Mashhad, in northeastern Iran, managed to pull in about 62 percent of the vote, or about 17.9 million of the 28.9 million votes cast. There were a high number of voided ballots that were not immediately explained by government officials, The AP report said.
Raisi got the reputation after the Iran-Iraq War and was reportedly part of a “death commission” that oversaw these political prisoners. Amnesty International has called on him to face crimes against humanity charges.
He moved up in the legal ranks within the country and—while serving as deputy chief justice in 2006—he was elected to sit on the Assembly of Experts, which is tasked with tapping a replacement of the supreme leader if he dies.
Agnès Callamard, the French human rights expert who is the secretary-general of Amnesty International, called for Raisi to be investigated for “crimes against humanity.” She said, “We will continue to call for Ebrahim Raisi to be investigated for his involvement in past and ongoing crimes under international law, including by states that exercise universal jurisdiction.”
TREND FORECAST: At a press conference yesterday, Al Jazeera reporter Assed Baig asked Mr. Raisi about the execution of political prisoners. The newly elected President said, as a prosecutor and in other capacities, he is “proud” of his record, stating that “Everything I’ve done in my time of holding office has been to defend human rights. If a legal expert, a judge or a prosecutor has defended the rights of people and the security of the society, he must be lauded and encouraged for preserving the security of people against assaults and threats.”
Al Jazeera said that those killed were reportedly members of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), “an organization pushing for regime change that is now based in Europe, which at the time led a military assault on Iranian soil despite the fact a United Nations-brokered ceasefire had taken hold.”
Regardless of who is President of Iran, since the overthrow of the Shah in 1979, anti-Iranian sentiment will persist since Iran’s geopolitical positions – such as support for Hamas in Palestine, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen – are in direct opposition with most of Western and Arab nations.