PODCAST - Eye for Iran : The Race to Replace Raisi

Iran is headed to an election on June 28, but it's not just any ordinary election: it’s a race to replace Raisi after the president died in a helicopter crash near the border with Azerbaijan on May 19.

The country is in a crisis mode, facing one of its biggest challenges in decades amid public distrust of the ruling system.

In this episode of ‘Eye for Iran,' host Negar Mojtahedi speaks with Jason Brodsky, the policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran and Behnam Ben Taleblu, a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) about the significance of Raisi’s death and how his death is perceived by the power brokers of Iran.

‘Eye for Iran’ also takes a deeper look into the political heavyweights throwing their names into the mix, their backgrounds and examines how the Guardian council will make its final decision on who gets to run amid succession.

“The presidency since 1989 in the Islamic Republic of Iran has been a death sentence politically and literally in Raisi’s case,” said Jason Brodsky, the policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran.

“The Islamic Republic is going to have a new president by July. The person who occupies that position, unlike say 2013, when former President [Hassan] Rouhani came in, that person will likely reside over the transition of the Islamic Republic, given that Khamenei will be 89 and a half or 90 unless Khamenei ends up being a centenarian or something else,” said Taleblu.

Raisi’s sudden death in a helicopter crash marked a significant moment in Iran’s modern history, but will the circumstances of his death change anything?

Watch and listen to this week’s episode of ‘Eye for Iran’ as your host and guests dig into those topics.