AFTER HELICOPTER CRASH KILLS RAISI - Iran's first VP appointed Prez by supreme leader Khamenei

Iran's supreme leader has appointed First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber as country's acting president after a helicopter crash killed President Ebrahim Raisi.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the announcement in a condolence message he shared for Raisi's death in the crash Sunday. The helicopter was found on Monday in northwestern Iran. Khamenei also announced five days of mourning in the message.

Mokhber, 68, largely has been in the shadows compared to other politicians in Iran's Shiite theocracy. Raisi's death under the constitution thrust Mokhber into public view. He is expected to serve as caretaker president for some 50 days before mandatory presidential elections in Iran.

Despite his low-key public profile, Mokhber has held prominent positions with in the country's power structure, particularly in its bonyads, or charitable foundations.

Those groups were fuelled by donations or assets seized after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, particularly those previously associated with Iran's shah or those in his government.

Mokhber oversaw bonyad known in English as the Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order, or EIKO, referring to the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.