Mohsen Rezaei

He previously served as secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council from 1997 to 2021 and as Vice President of Iran for Economic Affairs between 2021 and 2023. Earlier, he was commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from 1981 to 1997. Before the Iranian Revolution, he was a member of the Islamist guerrilla rebel group Mansouroun and later joined the Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization.

Dubbed a "perennial candidate", Rezaei ran for president in 2009, 2013 and 2021. He finished third in 2009 with 1.7% of the vote, fourth in 2013 with 3.8 million votes, and second in 2021 with 3.4 million votes.

Early life and education

Rezaei was born in Masjed Soleyman on 9 September 1954 to a religious nomadic Bakhtiari (Lur) family. He spent his childhood and adolescence in the oil-rich city of Masjed Soleyman (Irsoleymān) in southwestern Iran.

Along with his close friends, Rezaei established the "Religion and Science Association". When he was to begin studying at a high school run by the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) in 1969, Rezaei moved to the city of Ahvaz. At said school, he started his political and cultural struggle against the Shah's regime and was arrested by the SAVAK in his last year. Rezaei was 17 when he served five months in solitary confinement. He did not stop his political activities after he was released from prison.

Rezaei arrived in Tehran in 1974 to study mechanical engineering at Iran University of Science and Technology. He studied and worked at the same time. SAVAK intensified its crackdown on guerrilla groups to which he was a member. He had to abandon the university.

He launched provincial branches of Mansouroun guerrilla fighters in seven provinces. When Ruhollah Khomeini returned home from exile, the Mansouroun group was tasked with protecting the revolutionary leader. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, seven armed Muslim groups teamed up and established the Islamic Revolution Mujahideen Organization to safeguard the nascent Islamic Revolution.

Although he studied mechanical engineering at Iran University of Science and Technology before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Rezaei switched to economics after the Iran–Iraq War, studying at Tehran University and received his PhD in 2001.

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Military career

Rezaei joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and later was appointed chief of its intelligence division. He was appointed the IRGC commander by Ruhollah Khomeini in 1980, and after it grew in organizational complexity he assumed the office of IRGC's commander-in-chief on 20 September 1981, when he was 27 years old, and remained in the post until he announced his retirement from all of his military posts. He actively participated in the Iran–Iraq War. In 1986, he was named member of the Supreme Defense Council.

Throughout the 1980s, Rezaei came to prominence as a war hawk who argued that Iran had to continue the war with Iraq and its Western backers indefinitely, even after Iraqi troops were driven out of Iran. This position was fully aligned with Khomeini's own views and may also have been motivated by the desire to empower the IRGC's role in the state apparatus. Several other elites (including within the IRGC) disagreed with Rezaei's approach. For instance, in 1984, ninety IRGC commanders asked Khomeini to rein in Rezaei, but Khomeini reacted by purging the dissenters instead.

In July 1986, Rezaei entered into a conflict with Ali Sayad Shirazi, commander of Iran's land forces, due to a disagreement over the war strategy to be adopted. When this rivalry became public, Ayatollah Khomeini met them in his residence on 19 July 1986 and urged them to "seek unity". Khomeini was quoted as telling them, "You must endeavor, not to think in terms of being members of the Armed Forces or those of the Guards Corps or of the Basij forces. ... We must understand that if there were to be any disputes among you ... not only are we doomed here and now, but we also are guilty before God." As the prospect of Iranian victory became more unlikely, Rezaei shifted course. In 1988, he sent a letter to Khomeini, arguing that the Iran–Iraq War could not be won.

Rezaei was removed from the IRGC in 1997 due to pressures from the followers of the then president Mohammad Khatami. Another reason for his dismissal was his failure to respond to the perceived threat of attack from the US. He was replaced by Yahya Rahim Safavi.

He became a member of Expediency Discernment Council and then its secretary in August 1997. He was also appointed chair of the commission for macroeconomics and commerce. In addition, he is a reviewer of Iran's 2025 version development.

Rezaei founded the news website Tabnak, originally Baztab, in 2002 as a reaction to the proliferation of reformist websites. He also co-founded Imam Hossein University and teaches there.

It is reported that he returned to IRGC in 2015.

In March 2026, Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei appointed Rezaei as his military adviser. In August 2026, a spokesperson for president Masoud Pezeshkian announced that Rezaei would be appointed Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council after his predecessor, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, resigned. A separate decree signed by Khamenei named him as the Supreme Leader's personal representative to the council.

Political career

Presidential campaigns

Rezaei was a candidate in the presidential election of 2005, but withdrew on 15 June 2005, two days before the election. Rezaei said he withdrew from the race for the "integration" of the nation's votes" and their "effectiveness". He did not endorse any candidate.

On 23 April 2009, he announced his entry into the 2009 presidential race, after failing to find another conservative to run against President Ahmadinejad. He was also a candidate in the 2013 election. Rezaei announced his run for presidency in October 2012.

On 12 December 2016, Rezaei announced that he "has no decision to run for president" in the 2017 election. However, in February 2017 he told press that if asked by the Popular Front of Islamic Revolution Forces to stand, he "will think about it".

On 9 August 2026, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei appointed Rezaei as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, replacing Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, who was reassigned as a political adviser. The appointment came amid unconfirmed reports and speculation over Khamenei's whereabouts and condition.

US sanctions

On January 10, 2020, Rezaei was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury's Specially Designated Nationals List under Executive Order 13876. The treasury said that sanctions were imposed due to his involvement in advancing the Iran’s destabilizing objectives.

Political views

In the run-up to the 2009 Iranian elections, Rezaei criticized opposing candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's public comments questioning the Holocaust as "not useful" for Iran's international standing. Rezaei stated on 2 August 2009 that the ongoing trials of so-called 'prisoners' was an unjust act, issuing a letter on behalf of the Expediency Council of which he is the secretary, condemning the government.

In September 2019, Rezaei expressed his hope that Iran would capture US President Donald Trump and place him on trial.

Controversies and issues

In November 2006, Argentine Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral issued international arrest warrants for Rezaei, six other Iranians, and one Lebanese in connection with the AMIA bombing, the attacks on 18 July 1994, a suicide bombing of the Jewish cultural center (AMIA) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which resulted in the deaths of 85 people and serious injuries to 151. The attack on the Jewish cultural center came two years after the 1992 terrorist bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires. In 1998, Rezaei's son, Ahmad, defected to the United States, where he told officials that the attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires was planned in Tehran. The son told U.S. authorities that he had accompanied his father to Lebanon to witness the training. Ahmad Rezaee returned to Iran after a short time and declared that his statements about his father's involvement in the bombing were baseless. Mohsen Rezaei has been on the official Wanted list of Interpol since March 2007, for allegations of "Aggravated Murder and Damages" related to the 1994 AMIA bombing case. Rezaei rejected the allegations, saying in June 2009, "These charges were a sheer lie". Following his alleged involvement in the bombing, in 2007 Rezaei was subject to an Interpol Red Notice, marking him internationally wanted for "aggravated murder and damages".

On 16 June 2025, during the Israel–Iran conflict, Rezaei claimed on state television that Pakistan has assured Iran it would launch a nuclear strike on Israel if Israel were to use nuclear weapons against Iran. Rezaei also said Iran possesses "undisclosed" military capabilities. However, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif dismissed the claim.

Personal life

Rezaei married in 1974. He has five children, two sons and three daughters. His eldest son, Ahmad, migrated to the United States in 1998 and sought political asylum.

Ahmad spoke against the policies of the Iranian Islamic government, and accused his father and others of supporting terrorist acts. He returned to Iran in 2005, recanting his statements, then migrated to the United Arab Emirates in 2011. On 13 November 2011, his body was found in a hotel in Dubai. It was reported that he was killed by a hotel servant, but the Dubai Police stated that he had died after taking a large quantity of antidepressants. His brother, Omidvar, is a member of the Parliament of Iran since 2008.