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In Ebrahim Raisi, Iran's Clerics Have Promoted Their Ruthless Enforcer

(Washington Post) Reuel Marc Gerecht and Ray Takeyh - The Iranian presidential election was really about who will succeed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 82, as the overlord of Iran's theocracy. Khamenei has long eyed Raisi as his successor, and his promotion to the presidency presages his ultimate ascension. Raisi isn't a clever, well-read mullah, but rather is a brutal enforcer, sustaining a creed that ever-smaller numbers of Iranians embrace. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini would often summon Raisi when he needed special missions completed with efficiency and cruelty. This led to his service on the so-called death commission in 1988, responsible for the execution of thousands of political prisoners on charges of apostasy and the denigration of Islam. In the 2021 election, Iran's Guardian Council disqualified a high number of presidential candidates - not only "moderates" but even hard-liners. As a result, Raisi ran nearly uncontested, with no real competitors, and half the electorate stayed home. Thus, the once-popular reformist notion that the theocracy could liberalize itself has died - except perhaps abroad among certain Westerners. The gap between state and society in Iran has never been wider. In the coming months, many in Washington will assure themselves that a restored nuclear accord will impose some limits on the regime's ambitions. Iran's nuclear program, we will be assured, is back in the box even as Iran's atomic infrastructure grows in sophistication and size. Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former Iranian-targets officer at the CIA, is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Ray Takeyh is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
2021-06-28 00:00:00
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