Comments

You have commented 375 times on Rantburg.

Your Name

Your e-mail (optional)

Website (optional)

	My Original Nic Pic-a-Nic Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Foto

Submit your comments on this article

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran supreme leader appoints veteran IRGC chief as representative to Iran’s top security body

2026-08-10

[Rudaw] Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei

…who may or may not be, but probably has been dead for months…

on Sunday appointed former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) veteran commander Mohsen Rezaee as his representative to the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), replacing Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, whom he reassigned as his political advisor.

Khamenei appointed Mohsen Rezaee, who commanded the IRGC from 1981 until 1997 and has served as his military advisor since March, as his representative on the Supreme National Security Council, lauding him as "one of the pioneers of the glorious eight-year period of sacred defense," in reference to the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988).

Concurrently, President Masoud Pezeshkian appointed Rezaee as the new secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), following Zolghadr’s resignation from the post, according to state-run IRNA.

In a separate statement from IRNA, Khamanei announced the appointment of Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr as his political advisor, who held the SNSC secretary position since March 2026 following the liquidation of former secretary Ali Larijani in a joint US-Israeli ~~Arclight~~ airstrike
<del>Arclight</del> airstrike

...KABOOM!...
The Supreme National Security Council functions as Iran’s top decision-making body regarding defense and intelligence, and of late, negotiations with Washington and the Strait of Hormuz.

Senior political appointments come amid divisions in Iran’s political system between the elected government and powerful unelected institutions, particularly the IRGC, which has played a central role in Tehran’s regional strategy since the 1979 revolution.

The appointments of both Zolghadr, who previously served eight years (1989 -1997) as chief of the IRGC joint staff under Rezaee and eight years as deputy commander-in-chief of the Guard (1997 - 2005), and Razaee, who has served as Khamenei’s military advisor since March 2026 and whose tenure spans the founding of the IRGC, cement the regime’s consolidation of power by hardline military figures.

President Pezeshkian on Saturday acknowledged "disagreements" that the government was seeking to resolve following reports of Zolghadr’s resignation, highlighting Tehran’s internal differences over its response to the conflict with the US and Israel.

Zolghadr, who has taken a firm position on the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, posted on X on Saturday the conditions for reopening the strategic waterway, including an end to attacks on Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate ~~Jews~~ ~~Zionists~~ Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
and its regional allies, the lifting of sanctions and the maritime blockade, the withdrawal of US forces from around Iran, compensation for the two wars and the release of frozen Iranian assets.

The Times of Israel adds:

In addition to previously leading the elite IRGC paramilitary, Rezaei, 71, is wanted on an international arrest warrant for his alleged role in one of the deadliest antisemitic attacks of recent decades, the bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1994.

Rezaei is the second person tapped to head Iran’s Supreme National Security Council since Israel assassinated the powerful Iranian official Ali Larijani in mid-March, just weeks into the US-Israeli war with the Islamic Republic. Israel’s military said, upon killing Larijani, that he had served as the “de facto leader” of Iran following the killing of former supreme leader Ali Khamenei on the war’s first day.

Rezaei earlier this month said Iran will never allow an unauthorized route through the Strait of Hormuz, which was considered an international waterway and a key pathway for the global oil supply before Tehran began obstructing it at the start of the war.

He declared in July that control of the Strait was “more important than dozens of atomic bombs,” a reference to the Iranian nuclear program, which is also one of the war’s central issues.

WANTED BY INTERPOL FOR ALLEGED ROLE IN AMIA ATTACK
Rezaei led the IRGC from 1981 to 1997 — a tenure that included almost all of the Iran-Iraq war — before going on to occupy several high-ranking political posts. He recently served as the younger Khamenei’s military adviser.

During his tenure as head of the IRGC, he was allegedly involved in the AMIA attack. The bombing, according to an Argentine court ruling, was carried out by Hezbollah terrorists and funded by Iran. It killed 85 people and injured hundreds more.

Rezaei has long been wanted by Interpol for his suspected role in the bombing. The global police organization has had a “Red Notice” out for his arrest since 2007, along with seeking the arrests of five other Iranians and a Lebanese national.

In 2022, Argentina asked Qatar to arrest Rezaei when he was in the Gulf state, but Qatar did not do so.

“The accusation made against him arises from his proven participation at the meeting in which carrying out the attack on AMIA’s headquarters was decided,” said Argentine federal judge Daniel Rafecas in an official letter to Qatar at the time.

Earlier that year, a public appearance by Rezaei at the investiture of Nicaragua’s president angered Argentina and drew a harsh response from its Foreign Ministry, which called Rezaei’s presence “an affront to Argentine justice and to the victims of the brutal terrorist attack″ in the Argentine capital.

Posted by:trailing wife

#2 comments); ?>werwer

Posted by: trailing wife 2026-08-10 13:17

#1 comments); ?>werwer

Posted by: Mercutio 2026-08-10 11:07

00:00