Iran appoints hardline ex-IRGC chief as new national security head

Iran has appointed an ultra-hardline figure as its new national security chief amid its ongoing wars with the United States and Israel. As armed conflict and diplomatic overtures over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz continue to alternate, hardliners appear to be gaining greater sway within the Iranian establishment.

According to The New York Times, a spokesperson for Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian announced Sunday on social media that Mohsen Rezaei (72), a military adviser to the supreme leader, had been named the new secretary general of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC).

Rezaei served as commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for 16 years — from 1981 to 1997 — the longest tenure in the force's history. He is widely credited with playing a central role in shaping the IRGC as the guardian of Iran's theocratic system.

Rezaei has faced allegations of orchestrating the assassination of American oil company executives in southern Iran in 1978. He was later named a suspect in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people, which led to an Interpol red notice against him. In 2020, the US Treasury Department added him to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list.

The appointment has prompted analysts to ask whether Iran is shifting toward a harder line in its negotiations with the United States.

Iran expert Hamidreza Azizi told The New York Times that the appointment was "part of a strategy to check the influence of Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf," the parliament speaker who has led negotiations with Washington, adding that it "means hardliners are gaining the upper hand within the Iranian system." Rezaei's predecessor as secretary general, Mohammad Baqer Zolghadr, was close to Qalibaf, and analysts say Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei used the reshuffle to curb the speaker's influence.

Saeid Golkar, a professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, said "Rezaei's promotion is another signal that the Revolutionary Guard is making key decisions inside Iran."

Analysts also say the appointment further narrows the domestic standing of President Pezeshkian, who is regarded as a moderate favoring negotiations.

According to Iran International, an anti-Iranian government media outlet, Mohammad Baqer Karaji — a cleric related by marriage to the Khamenei family — claimed earlier this month that President Pezeshkian had submitted his resignation to the supreme leader 28 times in recent weeks, and had been warned that "the next resignation letter will be accepted."

The presidential office strongly denied the report.