Iran 1403 at a glance
The Iranian people are preparing to celebrate their new calendar year which begins on March 21. The country experienced a wide range of events, one of which shocked the people and led to a political transition in the country i.e. the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash. Here is a short list of significant events to have unfolded across the country over the year:
President Raisi’s tragic death in chopper incident
On May 19, former Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, 63, died in a helicopter crash in foggy weather in the mountains near the border with the Republic of Azerbaijan.
The helicopter carrying Raisi crashed in the Dizmar forest, nestled between the cities of Varzaqan and Jolfa in Iran’s East Azarbaijan Province, about 375 miles (600km) north-west of the Iranian capital, Tehran.
It was transporting Raisi, Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian, East Azarbaijan Governor General Malek Rahmati, Friday Prayers leader of the city of Tabriz Seyyed Mohammad Ali Al-e Hashem and a member of the president’s bodyguard team Mahdi Mousavi. The helicopter’s pilot, co-pilot and crew were also among others on board the chopper.
Raisi and his accompanying delegation were returning from a ceremony to inaugurate a dam on the Aras River with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.
The final inquiry into the crash that found the crash was caused by bad weather.
The main cause of the helicopter crash was the “complex climatic and atmospheric conditions of the region in the spring,” said the final report of the Supreme Board of the General Staff of the Armed Forces.
The report added that “the sudden emergence of a thick mass of dense and rising fog” caused the helicopter’s collision into the mountain.
According to the report, there were no signs of sabotage in parts and systems.
Country’s then vice-president, Mohammad Mokhber, took over as interim president. The deputy foreign minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, was also appointed as acting foreign minister.
Raisi had won Iran’s 2021 presidential election.
Masoud Pezeshkian wins presidential election
On July 6, the Reformist Parliamentarian Masoud Pezeshkian won the presidential runoff, replacing Ebrahim Raisi who lost his life in a helicopter crash in May.
Pezeshkian won 16,384,403 votes to defeat the Conservative Saeed Jalili, who received 13,538,179 votes, on a final turnout of 49.8% – a big increase on the record low turnout of 39% recorded in the first round. In the first round, Pezeshkian came top, defeating three Conservative rivals.
The snap presidential election was caused by the tragic death of Raisi in the chopper incident.
On June 28, the first round of presidential elections was held among four candidates, including Pezeshkian, Jalili, parliament speaker and former Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Mostafa Pourmohammadi, a cleric who had served in Iran’s Interior and Intelligence Ministries.
But no candidate secured the majority of votes, with Pezeshkian leading with 10.4 million votes while Jalili trailed in second with 9.4 million. The two advanced to the runoff election.
A heart surgeon by profession, Pezeshkian entered politics first as the country’s deputy health minister and later as the health minister.
In 2006, Pezeshkian was elected as a lawmaker representing Tabriz in northwest Iran. He later served as a deputy parliament speaker described by many as an “independent” politician, a label that was embraced by Pezeshkian in the campaign.
Since his victory, he has tried to improve relations with the world. However, tensions with the West over Iran’s nuclear program have made it hard for his administration to enhance the relations with European countries.
Floods hit many provinces
In May, heavy rainfalls caused severe floods across many provinces from north to south of Iran, affecting residential areas and agricultural lands.
Several people lost their lives in the floods. Despite forecasts that the new wave of rain might not lead to flooding, it damaged infrastructure in various cities.
The floods came after mid-April’s floods destroyed dozens of villages in Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan.
Economy minister impeached
On March 2, just six months after Pezeshkian’s government took office, his Economy Minister Abdolnaser Hemmati was impeached after parliament voted to dismiss him amid rising inflation and a falling national currency value.
Hemmati was removed from office after 182 of 273 lawmakers voted against him.
In 2015, the Iranian rial was worth 32,000 to the United States dollar, but by the time Pezeshkian took office in July, it had plummeted to about 600,000 to the dollar on the open market.
With regional tensions escalating recently, it dropped even further, trading hands in Tehran’s exchange shops and on its streets for about 920,000 rials to the dollar. The rial’s devaluation has led to widespread public discontent due to the rising cost of living and heightened inflation as the Nowruz New Year approaches this month.
Some lawmakers accused the minister of intentionally devaluing the national currency to fill government coffers with a short-term windfall that would cover budget deficits at the cost of harming the economy and average Iranians.
Hemmati rejected the accusation and pointed to a 10-percentage-point reduction in inflation. He admitted that inflation still remained high, standing at 35 percent. He told lawmakers that his team was working hard to address the issue but warned that the process would take time.
Iran launches first space tug
On December 6, a space tug domestically designed and manufactured by Iranian technicians was launched into space aboard a homegrown satellite launch vehicle (SLV).
The Saman-1, along with a CubeSat and a research payload, was successfully sent into space, using a Simorgh launcher.
The payloads were placed in an orbit around the Earth, with an apogee of 410 kilometers and a perigee of 300 kilometers.
Simorgh is a two-stage SLV with liquid fuel developed by the Iranian Ministry of Defense.
In its eighth launch, the Simorgh set a new record for the liftoff of payloads. During this multi-phase mission, it successfully placed the Saman-1 orbital transfer block and two other research payloads, weighing nearly 300 kilograms, into orbit.