IRGC is shaping Iran strategy, says report

Battle-hardened commanders in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) have become the key decision-makers on matters of security, war, and diplomacy since the US-Israeli airstrikes killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on February 28, according to a New York Times (NYT) report.

- HT Correspondent

President Masoud Pezeshkian and his cabinet have been sidelined and told to focus only on domestic affairs while foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has been marginalised in negotiations with the United States.

The role of Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of late Ali Khamenei, in running the affairs of Iran is limited as he has not been seen in public since he was appointed Supreme Leader in March.

Access to Mojtaba is limited as he is surrounded mostly by doctors and medical staff who are treating the injuries he sustained in the airstrikes on February 28. “Mojtaba is managing the country as though he is the director of the board,” said Abdolreza Davari, a politician who was a senior adviser to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when he was president and knows Mojtaba. “He [Mojtaba] relies heavily on the advice and guidance of the board members, and they collectively make all the decisions,” Davari said in a phone interview to NYT from Tehran. “The generals are the board members.”