Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s hardline president who was elected in 2021, was declared dead early on Monday, alongside other senior politicians, following a fatal helicopter crash in Iran’s East Azerbaijan region. Raisi served as the eighth president of Iran, and was often described as a protege and potential successor of the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Who was Ebrahim Raisi? Prior to his tenure as president, the ultra-conservative Raisi started his career as a prosecutor in various areas of Iran, including the capital Tehran, and went on to establish connections with Iran’s reli…