AI Spotlight
Iran's Khamenei names Rezaee as secretary of National Security Council
Mohsen Rezaee, the former commander of Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has been appointed as the new secretary of the country's Supreme National Security Council.Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded his assassinated father as Iran's leader earlier this year, announced the appointment on X, with several media outlets also reporting on the move.Following the outbreak of the war on February 28, many key figures in the Iranian leadership were killed in US-Israeli air strikes.Rezaee replaces the previous secretary of the council, the relatively unknown Brigadier General Mohammed Bagher Zolghadr. Observers believe this could indicate a further consolidation of the IRGC's influence over the government.Major General Rezaee is regarded as one of the longest-serving figures in the Iranian power structure, having participated in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.At the age of 27, he became commander of the Revolutionary Guards during the Iran-Iraq War.In recent years, he has devoted himself to politics and is regarded as an influential figure in security circles. The Argentine public prosecutor's office named Rezaee as one of the masterminds behind a major bomb attack on a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires in 1994 that killed 85 people and wounded more than 300.The National Security Council is regarded as a key governing body within the Islamic Republic, dealing with matters relating to national security.In addition to the president, who chairs the council, its membership comprises around a dozen members, including several ministers and generals. The council makes decisions that take precedence over those of the Iranian parliament and become final once approved by the supreme leader.