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Former chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Mohsen Rezaei, has been appointed as the new head of the country’s Supreme National Security Council, according to the Iranian president’s office.
The announcement was made on Sunday, following the resignation of Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr from the post of council secretary. Presidential spokesperson Mehdi Tabatabaei confirmed the development on social media platform X.
Rezaei, 71, served as the head of the IRGC from 1981 to 1997, a period that largely coincided with the Iran-Iraq War. Over the years, he has held several important government and political positions, including serving as a military adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.
Amid ongoing tensions between Iran and the United States, Rezaei has emphasised the strategic importance of the Strait of Hormuz. In July, he described control over the vital waterway as “more important than dozens of nuclear bombs.”
Before Rezaei’s appointment, the position was held by Zolghadr, also a former IRGC commander, who assumed the role in March.
Iran’s Supreme Leader’s office announced on Sunday that Zolghadr will now serve as a political adviser to Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.