Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has appointed Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, the semi-official Fars news agency reports.
The appointment takes place amid institutional changes following a 12-day air war with Israel in June, the Islamic Republic’s most severe security challenge since a war with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in the 1980s.
A former member of the Revolutionary Guards, Larijani held the same top security position from 2005 to 2007 and was parliamentary speaker from 2008 to 2020. He now replaces Ali Akbar Ahmadian, who had become SNSC secretary in 2023.
On Sunday, Iran revived an Iraq war-era Defence Council to review defense plans and enhance the capabilities of its armed forces in a centralized manner.
Iran’s president heads both the Defense Council and the SNSC.
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