Hardline hardliner Rezaee appointed as Iran’s new security chief…"The Hormuz are more important than nuclear weapons"

[Dailian = Reporter Kim Gyu-hwan] Iran has appointed Mohsen Rezaei (72), a hardline figure and former commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as the new head of state’s national security. As the Iran-U.S. negotiations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz have reached a deadlock, there is speculation that the negotiating bloc’s position will weaken and the hardliners will gain ground.

According to the New York Times (NYT) and others, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Modestava Khamenei appointed Advisor Rezaei on the 9th (local time) as Secretary-General of the Supreme National Security Council, which oversees national security policy. In Iran, the Supreme National Security Council is the highest decision-making body that determines defense and foreign policy and proposes them to the Supreme Leader.
Although the Secretary-General is formally appointed by the president, it is known to be a position that effectively reflects the Supreme Leader’s intentions. In the appointment letter released that day, Khamenei said, “We highly regard Reza’s record of playing a key role in the ‘Eight-Year War of Jihad’ (the Iran-Iraq War from 1980 to 1988),” and added, “We hope he achieves the utmost success in this important responsibility.”

At a memorial service last month for former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Reza emphasized, “This strategic strait (the Strait of Hormuz) is more important than dozens of nuclear bombs, and the Islamic Republic of Iran will defend it.” Even if it means giving up part of its nuclear arsenal, it must seize greater control over the Strait of Hormuz.
At the age of 27, in 1981, Secretary-General Rezaei was appointed commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guards, led the war against Iraq, and remained in office after the war, serving for 16 years until 1997. It played a key role in developing the Revolutionary Guard, which was launched immediately after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, into the military and security organization it is today. He argued that they should continue the offensive even after driving the Iraqi forces out of Iran, earning the deep trust of the then Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
In 1994, he was identified as being behind a bombing at a Jewish compound in Argentina that killed 85 people, and was placed on Interpol’s red notice list. In 2020, during Trump’s first term in office, it was placed on the U.S. Treasury Department’s sanctions list. On the other hand, Mohammad Vaghher Zholgandr, who had served until recently as Secretary-General of the Supreme National Security Council, is a close associate of Mohammad Vaghher Ghalibaf, Speaker of Parliament, who has been leading the negotiations with the United States for the end of the war.

Accordingly, Iran’s appointment of Advisor Rezaei as Secretary-General of the Supreme National Security Council is interpreted as a decision that gives more weight to a hardline stance toward the United States. Hamidreza Azizi, an Iran expert at the German think tank Institute for International Security Studies, analyzed, “It is a check on Mohammad Vager Ghalibaf, the Iranian parliamentary speaker who has led negotiations with the U.S.,” adding, “It means that hardliners within Iran have gained the upper hand.”
Reporter Kim Kyu-hwan ([email protected] )

In Iran, the military is increasingly dominated by hardliners.

They know very well how important the Strait of Hormuz is, and,
It appears that we will do our best to make use of this.

It has only caused unnecessary damage through a pointless war.