🖋Masoud Azar BBC

🔻The 40-day war left heavy damages at the highest levels of the Islamic Republic’s government. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a number of senior military commanders and political figures were killed. Now, in the absence of many senior military figures, Mohsen Rezaei has returned from the sidelines to the center of power. These days, he appears repeatedly on television, meets with foreign officials, practically every day issues warnings to the United States, talks about the atomic bomb, and asks the people to “turn every home” into a “launch pad in the economic war.”

After the end of Mohsen Rezaei’s term as commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), his direct presence in security and military affairs gradually faded with the entry of a newer generation of commanders. However, for years he held the position of Secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council. With the killing of several senior commanders in the 12- and 40-day wars, Rezaei returned to the center of power once again, first appointed as the representative of Mojtaba Khamenei and then as Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council. These appointments—especially the representation of the new Leader—are seen as a sign of Mojtaba Khamenei’s special trust in Rezaei and the revival of Rezaei’s role in security and military decision-making.

Mohsen Rezaei, who in four terms of running for the presidential election was unable to secure a seat in the executive branch, and in one case his votes were even fewer than invalid ballots, is now in a position from which he can influence the country’s major decisions.

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