War on Iran: Phase II: Day 30

Tehran, Iran – The office of Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has announced a series of new appointments in key positions, including the naming of a former wartime commander and longtime political insider to helm the country’s top security body.

Mohsen Rezaee, who was commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for 16 years, including during years of war with Iraq in the 1980s, was named secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and Khamenei’s representative in the top decision-making body on Sunday.

Six new military positions were also officially filled on Monday, with Ali Abdollahi, head of Iran’s joint war command, appointed as the new chief of staff of the armed forces and Ali Ozmaei named as the head of the IRGC Navy. Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi was also confirmed as commander-in-chief of the IRGC “with the rank of major general”, officially succeeding Mohammad Pakpour, who was killed during the opening salvo of the US-Israel war on Iran in late Feburary.

Sina Azodi, assistant professor of Middle East Politics at the George Washington University, said the appointments signalled no softening in negotiations with the United States.

“There is little question that Khamenei, Vahidi and the IRGC leadership all share the view that continued resistance to the US is strategically necessary,” Azodi told Al Jazeera.

He said Rezaee brings deep institutional experience and considerable authority among both senior IRGC commanders and the rank-and-file. “His appointment therefore appears intended to strengthen internal cohesion, reinforce the leadership’s control over the organisation, and draw on the experience of a figure who helped shape the IRGC into the military and political institution it is today,” added Azodi.

Rezaee used to be the secretary of the Expediency Council, another top state arbitration body, as he increasingly turned to politics and macroeconomics after the end of the grinding Iraq war that left hundreds of thousands killed.

The 71-year-old also helped develop a long-term national development plan and was given high-level economic coordination authorities during the Ebrahim Raisi presidency between 2021 and 2024. But he has never held elected office, having run for president unsuccessfully four times.

Rezaee made a comeback in military uniform during the ongoing conflict, becoming military adviser to the supreme leader just over a week after Mojtaba Khamenei replaced his assassinated father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the war. Since then, he has projected a message of defiance and resilience to the US, Israel and regional actors during interviews with media and posts online.

Rezaee also expressed opposition to the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with the US in June, which temporarily lifted a naval blockade and suspended oil sanctions to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. He argued that his position was closer to that of Mojtaba Khamenei, who ended up approving the MoU despite stated reservations.

“I ask friends who are against negotiations to wait, the Americans will destroy it themselves and won’t let it lead to any results,” he said in early July, shortly before the agreement ended up being suspended following the resumption of attacks.

Last week, he said the US must change its behaviour, or face serious risks and casualties to its forces. Iran “will never permit the opening of a second corridor in the Strait of Hormuz”, he said.

State-linked outlets said 12 out of 13 voting members of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council were in favour of the MoU, with ultraconservative Saeed Jalili standing as the only opposing member. But a number of hardline MPs, media and supporters of the Islamic Republic blasted the agreement as they believe the strait should not have been allowed to reopen until the US gives more concessions.

The SNSC brings together Iran’s presidency, foreign ministry, armed forces and security and intelligence organisations, and also coordinates communication with the office of the supreme leader, which has to give final approval on decisions.

Local media had reported in recent days that Rezaee might soon be assuming the top security position, with some saying President Masoud Pezeshkian was resisting the appointment by initially rejecting a resignation from former security chief Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr.

Zolghadr – himself among the IRGC old guard and a relatively hardline but pragmatic figure, although with less seniority and political connections compared to Rezaee – was eventually replaced. But he was immediately appointed as political adviser to Khamenei, who has himself not been seen or heard from publicly since the start of the war.

An official with the IRGC’s Basij paramilitary organisation said this week that state media will soon release new pictures from the supreme leader taken after the war to disprove claims by the US and Israel that he may have been badly wounded in the same February 28 strikes that killed his father and other top commanders.

The state-linked Mehr news service this week recirculated old and undated video from Khamenei, showing him speaking to a handful of clerics and followers during a meeting.

Pezeshkian also said on Monday that he recently had a seven-hour meeting with Khamenei when the supreme leader emphasised “unity”.

Change with ‘strategic’ implications

According to an editorial by Nournews, an outlet affiliated with the national security council, Rezaee’s appointment signalled the beginning of a broader “strategic restructuring” suited to Iran’s new wartime circumstances.

It rejected the notion that Zolghadr was removed for failure or dissatisfaction or that the government opposed the appointment, adding that Rezaee could better integrate military, diplomatic, economic and energy policy to overcome “siloed management”.

“The central issue is not one secretary’s departure and another’s arrival, but how consequential the steps taken by the SNSC secretariat in this new phase will be,” Nournews said.

Analysts have noted that Zolghadr was close to Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker and chief negotiator in talks with the US, so his replacement could also be an attempt to tame Ghalibaf’s growing influence.

But Ghalibaf was among senior officials who released congratulatory messages on Monday for Rezaee – as did Vahidi and newly reappointed judiciary chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei.

Vahidi, among the most powerful people in Iran at the moment, said Rezaee’s presence in the council can “advance a strategic coordination between the field of battle and diplomacy, as well as economic and political security with an approach of resistance and hope-inducing governance”.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also congratulated Rezaee but said it was important to note the significance of institutions in the Islamic Republic.

“The whole world has clearly seen over the past year-and-a-half that our country is a country of institutions, not individuals. This was exactly the secret of the longevity and victory of the Islamic Republic in these challenging conditions,” spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told reporters during a news conference on Monday.

Reactions to the appointment

Israel reacted harshly to the appointment, pointing out that Rezaee – along with Vahidi – is subject to an Interpol Red Notice for his alleged role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre in Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people.

“The Iranian regime worships terror, rewards its architects and promotes them to the highest levels of power,” Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

After the appointment, some Iranian users online remembered a number of Rezaee’s controversial comments that made headlines over the years.

In one such comment in July 2015, months before Iran signed a landmark accord with world powers that lifted sanctions in exchange for nuclear curbs, Rezaee suggested readiness for a US ground assault on Iranian soil.

“If the Americans want to look at Iran with ill intent or think about a military attack, they can be sure that in the very first week we will capture at least 1,000 Americans as prisoners,” he told state television. “Then, to free each of them, they will have to pay a few billion dollars, which could resolve many of our economic problems.”

Shortly after the announcement of the appointment, state television aired a historical segment accompanied with footage from Rezaee during the Iraq war, which described him as a commander with a “strong military logic”.

A number of hardliners in Tehran also appeared pleased with the change at the security council as a hardline figure, unafraid of military confrontation, was taking charge, with some using it to attack Pezeshkian’s pro-deal government.

“After it emerged that the supreme leader selected Mohsen Rezaee as his representative in the council, the other thing that became clear was that Pezeshkian had for long been standing up to the leader on changing Zolghadr with Rezaee,” said hardline MP Amirhossein Sabeti, affiliated with Jalili’s Paydari Front.