Iran has named Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, a former commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as the successor to Ali Larijani, head of the country’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), who was assassinated in a US-Israeli air strike earlier this month, reported Al Jazeera. President Masoud Pezeshkian’s deputy of communications announced the appointment on X on Tuesday.
The SNSC, formally chaired by Pezeshkian, coordinates security and foreign policy and includes top military, intelligence and government officials, in addition to representatives of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem reportedly said, “Zolghadr’s appointment suggests Iran’s leadership is trying to add more military layers to the national security establishment”.
“An important thing to note is that whoever is sitting at the negotiation table will have to get Zolghadr’s approval before anything passes,” he added.
Zolghadr, who served in the 1980s war against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, went on to become head of the IRGC’s joint staff for eight years and then deputy commander-in-chief of the elite force for another eight years.
In 2005, he was named deputy interior minister for security and police in the government of then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, bolstering IRGC’s influence in politics.
Zolghadr’s new position consolidates IRGC’s growing clout in Iran amid growing uncertainty regarding decision-making at the top.