Khamenei appoints two formational IRGC leaders to senior political positions within regime

Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei appointed two formational IRGC leaders to senior political positions, according to statements published on Sunday. Mohsen Rezaee, who commanded the IRGC from 1981 to 1997, was named as Khamenei's representative to the Supreme National Security Council. Mohammed Bagher Zolghadr, a former IRGC deputy chief, was appointed as Khamenei's political advisor.

Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei appointed two figures who played key roles in the formation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to senior political positions, according to statements attributed to Khamenei published on Sunday. Mohsen Rezaee, who commanded the IRGC from 1981 until 1997, was appointed as Khamenei's representative on the Supreme National Security Council. Rezaee has run in at least three presidential elections, coming third in 2009 with 1.7% of the vote, fourth in 2013 with over 3.8 million votes, and second in 2021 with 3.4 million votes. He has served as a member of the Expediency Discernment Council since 1997 and was appointed as Khamenei's military advisor in March. Additionally, Mohammed Bagher Zolghadr, who held several senior positions across the IRGC since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, including being deputy chief from 1997 until 2006, was appointed as Khamenei's political advisor. In March, Zolghadr, who had just been appointed as the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council following Israel's killing of Ali Larijani during Operation Roaring Lion, was cited by The New York Times as saying that the IRGC should gain more control over Iran. He was also described by The Economist as an "IRGC apparatchik" at the time. Historian Shahram Kholdi told Iran International in March that Zolghadr is "one of the last remnants of the radical revolutionaries that armed themselves against the Pahlavi monarchy."