Government of Islamic Republic of Iran |
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This is a list of the presidents of the Islamic Republic of Iran since the establishment of that office in 1980. The president of Iran is the highest popularly elected official in the country. The most recent president, Ebrahim Raisi, died in a helicopter crash on 19 May 2024, leaving the office vacant. Mohammad Mokhber is serving as acting president until the next election, to be held on 28 June 2024.
After the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and referendum to create the Islamic Republic on March 29 and 30, the new government needed to craft a new constitution. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ordered an election for the Assembly of Experts, the body tasked with writing the constitution. [1] The assembly presented the constitution on October 24, 1979, and Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini and Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan approved it. This was also approved in constitutional referendum on December 2 and 3.
The 1979 Constitution designated the supreme leader as the head of state and the president and prime minister as the heads of government. The post of prime minister was abolished after the 1989 constitutional referendum.
The first Iranian presidential election was held on January 25, 1980 and resulted in the election of Abolhassan Banisadr with 76% of the votes. Banisadr was impeached on June 22, 1981 by Parliament. Until the early election on July 24, 1981, the duties of the president were undertaken by the Provisional Presidential Council. Mohammad-Ali Rajai was elected president on July 24, 1981 and took office on August 2. Rajai remained in office for less than one month, with both he and his prime minister being assassinated on August 30, 1981. Once again, a Provisional Presidential Council filled the office until October 13, 1981 when Ali Khamenei was elected president.
Ali Khamenei, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Mohammad Khatami, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hassan Rouhani were each elected president for two terms. Ebrahim Raisi was the most recent president, serving from his election in 2021 until his death on May 19, 2024 leaving the office occupied in an acting capacity by First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber.
Islamic Republic of Iran (from 1979) | ||||||||||
1st Constitution (1979–1989) | ||||||||||
No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Term of office | Political party | Election | Previous office | Prime minister | Cabinet | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||||||
The Council of the Islamic Revolution deputised during the interim (3 December 1979 – 4 February 1980). [lower-alpha 1] | ||||||||||
1 | Abolhassan Banisadr سید ابوالحسن بنیصدر (1933–2021) | 4 February 1980 | 22 June 1981 | 1 year, 138 days | Independent | 1980 | Minister of Finance (1979–1980) | Mohammad-Ali Rajai | Rajai | |
The Presidential Council deputised during the interim (22 June 1981 – 2 August 1981). [lower-alpha 1] | ||||||||||
2 | Mohammad-Ali Rajai محمدعلی رجائی (1933–1981) | 2 August 1981 | 30 August 1981 [lower-alpha 2] | 28 days | IRP | 1981 (Jul) | Prime Minister of Iran (1980–1981) | Mohammad-Javad Bahonar | Bahonar | |
The Presidential Council deputised during the interim (30 August 1981 – 9 October 1981). [lower-alpha 1] | ||||||||||
3 | Ali Khamenei علی خامنه ای (born 1939) | 9 October 1981 | 16 August 1989 [2] | 7 years, 311 days | IRP CCA | 1981 (Oct) 1985 | Member of the Parliament of Iran (1980–1981) | Mir-Hossein Mousavi | Mousavi I–II | |
2nd Constitution (from 1989) | ||||||||||
No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Term of office | Political party | Election | Previous office | First vice president | Cabinet | ||
Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||||||
4 | Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani اکبر هاشمی رفسنجانی (1934–2017) | 16 August 1989 [2] | 3 August 1997 | 7 years, 352 days | CCA | 1989 1993 | Speaker of the Parliament of Iran (1980–1989) | Hassan Habibi | Rafsanjani I–II | |
5 | Mohammad Khatami محمد خاتمی (born 1943) | 3 August 1997 | 3 August 2005 | 8 years | ACC | 1997 2001 | Minister of Culture (1982–1992) | Hassan Habibi Mohammad-Reza Aref | Khatami I–II | |
6 | Mahmoud Ahmadinejad محمود احمدینژاد (born 1956) | 3 August 2005 | 3 August 2013 | 8 years | ABII | 2005 2009 | Mayor of Tehran (2003–2005) | Parviz Davoodi Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei Mohammad-Reza Rahimi | Ahmadinejad I–II | |
7 | Hassan Rouhani حسن روحانی (born 1948) | 3 August 2013 | 3 August 2021 | 8 years | MDP | 2013 2017 | Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (1989–2005) | Eshaq Jahangiri | Rouhani I–II | |
8 | Ebrahim Raisi ابراهیم رئیسی (1960–2024) | 3 August 2021 | 19 May 2024 [lower-alpha 2] | 2 years, 290 days | CCA | 2021 | Chief Justice (2019–2021) | Mohammad Mokhber | Raisi | |
– | Mohammad Mokhber [lower-alpha 1] محمد مخبر (born 1955) Acting | 19 May 2024 | Incumbent | 42 days | Independent | – | Vice President (2021–2024) | – | Mokhber |
The president of Iran is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the second highest-ranking official, after the Supreme Leader. The first election was held in 1980 and was won by Abulhassan Banisadr. Mohammad Mokhber, the first vice president, is acting as president following the death of Ebrahim Raisi on 19 May 2024.
Ali Akbar Hashimi Bahramani Rafsanjani was an Iranian politician and writer who served as the fourth president of Iran from 1989 to 1997. One of the founding fathers of the Islamic Republic, Rafsanjani was the head of the Assembly of Experts from 2007 until 2011 when he decided not to nominate himself for the post. He was also the chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council.
The Assembly of Experts, also translated as the Assembly of Experts of the Leadership or as the Council of Experts, is the deliberative body empowered to appoint the Supreme Leader of Iran. All directly elected members must first be vetted by the Guardian Council.
Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh is an Iranian reformist politician, artist and architect who served as the 49th and last Prime Minister of Iran from 1981 to 1989. He was a reformist candidate for the 2009 presidential election and eventually the leader of the opposition in the post-election unrest. Mousavi served as the president of the Iranian Academy of Arts until 2009, when conservative authorities removed him. Although Mousavi had always considered himself a reformist and believed in promoting change within the 1979 Revolution constitution, on 3 Feb 2023, in response to the violent suppression of Iranians by Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, he announced opposition to the Islamic Republic constitution and asked for a widespread referendum to fully change the constitution and make a fundamental change in Iran's political system.
Hassan Ebrahim Habibi was an Iranian politician, lawyer, scholar and the first vice president from 1989 until 2001 under Presidents Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami. He was also a member of the High Council of Cultural Revolution and head of Academy of Persian Language and Literature from 2004 until his death in 2013.
The prime minister of Iran was a political post that had existed in Iran (Persia) during much of the 20th century. It began in 1906 during the Qajar dynasty and into the start of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1923 and into the 1979 Iranian Revolution before being abolished in 1989.
Presidential elections were held in Iran on 28 July 1989, after the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the selection of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the previous President of Iran, as the new Supreme Leader of Iran. Out of the seventy-nine candidates registered to run, only two were approved by the Council of Guardians, which resulted in a very predictable win by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the previous Speaker of Majlis.
Presidential elections were held in Iran on 24 July 1981 after the previous Iranian president, Abolhassan Banisadr, was impeached by the Majlis on 21 June and then sacked by the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, on 22 June. The elections occurred after the Hafte Tir bombing, which killed Mohammad Beheshti and dozens of other Iranian officials on 28 June 1981. This led to the election of Mohammad Ali Rajai, the previous prime minister, winning 13,001,761 votes out of the 14,573,803 votes cast, which was 89% of the votes. The vote turnout was 65.29%.
Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani was an Iranian Shia cleric, writer and conservative and principlist politician who was Prime Minister of Iran from 2 September until 29 October 1981. Before that, he was Minister of Interior in the cabinets of Mohammad-Ali Rajai and Mohammad-Javad Bahonar. He was the leader of Combatant Clergy Association and Chairman of the Assembly of Experts and also founder and president of Imam Sadiq University.
A constitutional referendum was held in Iran on 28 July 1989, alongside presidential elections. Approved by 97.6% of voters, it was the first and so far only time the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been amended. It made several changes to articles 5, 107, 109, 111, and added article 176. It eliminated the need for the Supreme Leader (rahbar) of the country to be a marja or chosen by popular acclaim, it eliminated the post of prime minister, and it created a Supreme National Security Council.
This article is a timeline of events relevant to the Islamic Revolution in Iran. For earlier events refer to Pahlavi dynasty and for later ones refer to History of the Islamic Republic of Iran. This article doesn't include the reasons of the events and further information is available in Islamic revolution of Iran.
Many organizations, parties and guerrilla groups were involved in the Iranian Revolution. Some were part of Ayatollah Khomeini's network and supported the theocratic Islamic Republic movement, while others did not and were suppressed when Khomeini took power. Some groups were created after the fall of the Pahlavi dynasty and still survive; others helped overthrow the Shah but no longer exist.
Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh served as the last Prime Minister of Iran, from 1981 to 1989, before the position was abolished in the 1989 review of the Iranian constitution. In the years leading up to the Islamic Revolution, Mousavi and his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, moved to the United States; they returned to Iran shortly after the establishment of the Islamic Republic.
Premiership of Mir-Hossein Mousavi were the third and fourth government of Iran after the Iranian Revolution. At that time, Ali Khamenei was the president.
In August 1981, President Mohammad-Ali Rajai and Prime Minister Mohammad-Javad Bahonar were assassinated in an explosion. Ali Khamenei was then elected as the third president of Iran in the October 1981 Iranian presidential election. He put forward Ali Akbar Velayati as his prime minister, but the Iranian parliament did not give him the vote of confidence, and he was defeated with a vote of 80 to 74. Subsequently, Ali Khamenei, though he had strong disagreements with Mousavi, as a compromise with the left-leaning parliament, agreed to offer him, Mousavi, for the post of premier. On 28 October, the parliament approved Mousavi with a vote of 115 to 39. Mousavi became the 79th Prime Minister of Iran on 31 October 1981, and remained the prime minister of Iran until 3 August 1989, for eight years.
The following lists events that happened during 1981 in Iran.
In the 1989 Iranian Supreme Leader election the Assembly of Experts members voted to choose the second Supreme Leader of Iran. The election was held on June 4, 1989, the morning after Ruhollah Khomeini's death and Ali Khamenei was elected as his successor with 60 votes out of 74.
The position of Commander-in-Chief (Farmandehe Koll-e Qova, formerly known as Bozorg Arteshtārān is the ultimate authority of all the Armed Forces of Iran, and the highest possible military position within the Islamic Republic of Iran. The position was established during the Persian Constitutional Revolution. According to the Constitution of Iran, the position is vested in the Supreme Leader of Iran and is held since 1981.
On 8 January 2017, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the fourth President of Iran and the country's Chairman of Expediency Discernment Council, died at the age of 82 after suffering a heart attack. He was transferred unconscious to a hospital in Tajrish, north Tehran. Attempts at cardiopulmonary resuscitation for more than an hour trying to revive him were unsuccessful and he died at 19:30 local time (UTC+3:30).
Mohammad Mokhber is an Iranian politician who is currently serving as the acting president of Iran since the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in the Varzaqan helicopter crash on 19 May 2024. Before his elevation to the role of acting president, Mokhber was in the position of First Vice President of Iran. He is also a current member of the Expediency Discernment Council. He was also the head of the Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order committee (EIKO), chairman of the Sina Bank board, and deputy governor of Khuzestan Province.