Iran appoints Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr as new security council chief after Ali Larijani’s death in U.S.-Israeli strikes, signaling hardline shift

DUBAI: Iran named a former Revolutionary Guards commander and senior figure in the hardline political faction ⁠on Tuesday to replace the powerful head of the Supreme National Security ​Council, Ali Larijani, killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes ‌last week.

Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr ​was appointed as Larijani’s successor as secretary of the SNSC, the Iranian president’s deputy of communications posted on X ​on Tuesday.

The SNSC, formally chaired by the elected ⁠president, ‌Masoud Pezeshkian, coordinates ​security and foreign ​policy, and includes top military, intelligence and ​government officials in addition to representatives of the supreme leader who has ultimate say over all matters of state.

Zolqadr is a former Revolutionary Guards ‌commander who has in the past held senior security positions such as deputy for security at the Interior Ministry, deputy at the armed forces’ general staff and advisor ⁠to ‌the judiciary chief for crime prevention.

He headed the electoral headquarters of the hardline political faction, the Popular ​Front of Islamic Revolutionary Forces.

Since 2022 he has served ​as ​secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council, ‌an assembly ​that resolves differences between parliament and the Guardian Council of Shi’ite clerics and jurists who can veto legislation and supervise elections.

 The Sun Malaysia