| The outcome of the vote was never in doubt. On June 18, Iranians elected Ebrahim Raisi to be their new president. In our latest Opinions Essay, longtime Iran observers Reuel Marc Gerecht and Ray Takeyh take a close look at Raisi, explain why he is likely to be the next supreme leader of Iran and suggest that he will soon pose unique dilemmas for the Biden administration.
Unlike the older clerics who have led Iran since the revolution in 1979, Raisi, 60, came of age with the revolt that toppled the shah in 1979. He was groomed for this moment over many years by the Ayatollah Khamenei, who at 82 engineered the election to ensure Raisi's victory.
There is no hint of the reformer in the new president, whose role in the killing of thousands of Iranian dissidents in 1988 defines his hardline legacy. Nor is Raisi likely to be interested in concessions as Washington, Tehran and other foreign capitals work to revive a joint treaty on Iran's nuclear program. And his repressive tactics could push an Iranian populace already unhappy with clerical rule to the breaking point. "Raisi isn't a clever, well-read mullah, as were so many of the Islamic republic's founding fathers," Gerecht and Takeyh write. "He is all about compulsion sustaining a creed that ever-smaller numbers of Iranians embrace."
We think you will find the essay timely and illuminating and, as always, thank you for reading.  (Martin Satí for The Washington Post, based on photos by Getty Images) The dilemma for the Biden administration may not be the potential for arms control but how to deal with a mass murderer facing a mass uprising. By Reuel Marc Gerecht and Ray Takeyh ● Read more » |    | | | |
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