TEHRAN,— Iran has replaced the secretary of its Supreme National Security Council, naming former Revolutionary Guards commander Mohsen Rezaei to the influential post that helps shape the country’s security and foreign policy.
The move was announced late Sunday by a deputy communications director for President Masoud Pezeshkian. Rezaei takes over from Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, who is seen as a lower profile figure than his outspoken successor.
Zolqadr had held the post only since late March. He stepped into the role after his predecessor, Ali Larijani, was killed in an airstrike during the recent war between Iran and the United States and Israel.
Officials gave no explanation for the leadership change, and it remains unclear whether it signals any shift in policy direction.
The switch comes as Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Saturday that Iran and Oman were nearing a deal on a new shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway largely shut down during five months of conflict.
Araqchi said reopening the route still hinges on other factors, including compensation from Washington.
Zolqadr had previously set out separate conditions, calling for an end to U.S. threats against Iran, a halt to actions against Tehran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestinian territories, Yemen and Iraq, and the lifting of sanctions and a blockade, along with the release of frozen Iranian assets.
The security council is officially led by the president and brings together senior military, intelligence and government officials, along with representatives of the supreme leader, who holds final authority on state matters.
Rezaei, 71, led the Revolutionary Guards from 1981 to 1997, a period that included much of the Iran-Iraq war.
He later spent more than 20 years as secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council and served as vice president for economic affairs from 2021 to 2023 under President Ebrahim Raisi.
He holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Tehran.
A decree issued Sunday by Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei also named Rezaei as his representative on the council, alongside hardliner Saeed Jalili, citing Rezaei’s experience during the 1980-88 war with Iraq.
The same decree appointed Zolqadr as Khamenei’s political adviser.
(With files from Reuters)
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