August 9, 2026 8:32 pm
A handout photo made available by the Iranian Presidential Office shows Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian attending a press conference in the capital Tehran, on August 8, 2026.
The former commander in chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Mohsen Rezaei, has been named head of the country’s highest national security body, the Iranian presidency announced on Sunday.
“In light of the resignation of Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr from his position as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and his appointment to new functions, President Masoud Pezeshkian has named Mohsen Rezaei as the head of this body,” presidency spokesman Mehdi Tabatabaei said on X.
Rezaei, 71, led the Guards from 1981 to 1997 — a tenure that included almost all of the Iran-Iraq war — before going on to occupy several high-ranking political posts. He then served as military adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.
