US President Donald Trump has argued that his campaign of pressure on Tehran has produced a more “rational” and “reasonable” leadership in Iran. But the latest appointments point to a leadership that appears set on confronting Washington rather than seeking compromise.
Security appointments follow new national security chief
The changes were announced this week, with the senior appointments described as having been made by Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Monday. They came after the naming of Mohsen Rezaie as national security chief the day before.
Experts said the reshuffle reflects a shift away from the more cautious style associated with Ali Khamenei, Mojtaba’s father, who had been supreme leader until he was assassinated by Israel at the start of the war.
They said the new approach combines greater aggression towards external enemies with tighter attention to dissent within Iran.
Offensive posture and tighter internal control
Hamidreza Azizi, of the Clingendael Institute in the Netherlands, said the leadership’s priorities are twofold: preparing the state for a more confrontational external environment and “securitising” day-to-day domestic life.
Azizi said the emphasis on offensive operations, unified command and faster decision-making suggests a movement from Ali Khamenei’s traditionally cautious approach to a form of “offensive deterrence”.
Saeid Golkar, associate professor of political science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, said many appointees have intelligence backgrounds and that the overall picture is of a security-dominated bureaucracy taking stronger hold of Iran’s administrative system.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said the changes reinforce “maximalist and hardline” positions. These include insisting on absolute Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz, calling for the removal of US troops from the region and pressing ahead with Iran’s nuclear programme.
Rezaie and the strategy of continued pressure
Rezaie has repeatedly called for resistance against the United States while leaving space for negotiation. In March, he warned that if the US strikes Iran’s electricity infrastructure, the response would not follow a tit-for-tat pattern, but instead would extend to multiple forms of retaliation.
Last month, he said the United States had been trapped by Iran and that Iran would not allow it to escape.
Analysts also linked the appointments to broader aims of prolonging conflict with the US and seeking to ensure that Trump’s political allies face setbacks in upcoming midterm elections.
Vali Nasr, author of Iran’s Grand Strategy, said the new leadership is more risk-taking and that it appears to believe Iran’s comparatively limited reaction in 2020 to the killing of Qasem Soleimani by the US was a factor behind Trump’s escalation in his second term. Soleimani was targeted by a US missile in Baghdad at the end of Trump’s first term, and Iran did not respond directly, despite furious rhetoric.
Israeli analyst Danny Citrinowicz said the leadership is more willing to use Iranian military capabilities directly and to test adversaries with less restraint. He said the shift is especially significant for the nuclear issue, arguing that some inside Iran view Ali Khamenei’s strategy of a strategic “limbo” as having weakened the country.
Basij role points to deeper neighbourhood intelligence
One of the appointments brings back a veteran intelligence figure to lead the Basij volunteer militia, which operates under the control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and played a major role in suppressing protests in January.
Hossein Taeb, described as an ally of Mojtaba Khamenei, had previously headed IRGC intelligence. Sina Toossi wrote that Taeb was a divisive figure associated with hardline repression of dissent, and noted that the US sanctioned him in 2010 for involvement in suppressing protests after an election widely described as rigged.
Taeb’s new mandate, Toossi said, calls for strengthening the Basij’s “public intelligence network”, using modern technologies and expanding neighbourhood organisation. Babak Vahdad, an independent researcher, said this represents a more granular internal security effort, pushing collection, detection and early warning deeper into neighbourhoods, local social networks and mosques.
Golkar said some analysts see the appointments, including the return of security veterans, as a hedge against possible unrest if economic pressures intensify again.
Despite uncertainties over who designed the changes—Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen or heard from directly since being chosen as supreme leader in March—Azizi said the overall combination of figures such as Taeb, Rezaie, and Ahmad Vahidi, now commander of the IRGC, indicates a leadership increasingly relying on experienced intelligence and military personnel to consolidate control after the war.
Join the discussion?
12 August 2026
- 7 comments
- 358 views
-
webfact
