The Iranian constitution stipulates that the first vice president take over "in the event of the president's death, dismissal, resignation, absence or illness for more than two months".

Hamas said it appreciated Raisi's "support for the Palestinian resistance, and tireless efforts in solidarity" with Palestinians since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza following the group's October 7 attack.

Raisi was elected president in 2021 and, under the current timetable, presidential elections are due to take place in 2025.

As a young prosecutor in Tehran, Raisi sat on a panel that oversaw the execution of hundreds of political prisoners in the Iranian capital in 1988, as Iran's eight-year war with Iraq was coming to an end, rights groups say.

Under the legislation, individuals engaged in same-sex relationships could face imprisonment ranging from 10 to 15 years.

President Raisi has sent a pointed warning to West Jerusalem

The counterstrike needs to be acceptable to the US, local media have said

The US president reportedly talked the Israeli prime minister out of military action against Iran

IRGC Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi was among the dead in a Damascus airstrike

The tech giant says it prohibits people with a “violent mission” or those “engaged in violence”

Israel’s prime minister accuses Tehran of supporting militant groups ‘from the Houthis to Hezbollah to Hamas’

The decision was announced by a Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman on January 17, just a day after Iraq recalled its envoy from Tehran after civilians were killed in an IRGC missile strike in Irbil.