Key Figures and Leaders

Featured Leadership

  • Ahmad Vahidi

    Islamic Republic of Iran Minister of Interior

    In August 2021, the Islamic Consultative Assembly ratified the appointment of Ahmad Vahidi, former Defense Minister and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force commander, as Interior Minister.  The Interior Ministry heads the Interior Security Council of the Supreme National Security Council, leading some to label the ministry as the most strategically important in the Islamic Republic, especially given the mass protest events in the country since 2017. Additionally, there is an Interpol Red Notice for Vahidi’s arrest related to his alleged involvement in the 1994 bombing of the Jewish AMIA center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people.

  • Mokhber

    Mohammad Mokhber

    First Vice President of Iran

    Mohammad Mokhber Dezfuli currently serves as the first vice president of Iran in President Ebrahim Raisi’s Administration. Before this position, his leadership roles at massive business conglomerates—the Mostazafan Foundation and the Execution for Imam Khomeini’s Order (EIKO)—implicated him in the corruption at the heart of Supreme Leader Khamenei’s domestic political strategy. The Supreme Leader appointed him as the head of EIKO to oversee a large patronage network. Mokhber was also responsible for implementing Khamenei’s vision of a resistance economy to neutralize international sanctions. Furthermore, he oversaw efforts to punish regime enemies by seizing their property. If his past is any indication of his future, his current role in the elected branch of government will be used to perpetuate corruption, implement a resistance economy, and punish regime enemies.

  • Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi

    President of Iran

    Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi has steadily risen through the ranks of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Spending most of his career in the judiciary, Raisi’s ascendance can be explained by three factors: promotion by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, an influential family network, and a knack for leveraging state positions to feed his ambition. Raisi has spent his career developing his image as an anti-corruption crusader. In recent years, Raisi has emerged as a leading candidate to succeed Khamenei.

  • Mohammad-Reza Ashtiani

    Islamic Republic of Iran Minister of Defense

    In August 2021, the Islamic Consultative Assembly ratified President Ebrahim Raisi’s selection for Defense Minister, Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza Ashtiani. The Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL) is responsible for the planning, logistics, and funding of the armed forces, and its General Staff, which directly answers to the Supreme Leader, exercises control over the forces.

  • Golpayegani

    Hojatoleslam Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani

    The Supreme Leader’s Chief of Staff

    Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s chief of staff Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani does not receive much attention from Western media outlets. But Golpayegani often acts as the Supreme Leader’s chief representative and his statements and appearances therefore shed light on the Supreme Leader’s thinking and priorities. Golpayegani’s rise in the intelligence community and the Office of the Supreme Leader, the true center of power in the Islamic Republic, makes him an influential decision-shaper. Indeed, in November 2019, the U.S. Department of Treasury identified him as “one of the most senior officials within the Supreme Leader’s Office.”

  • Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

    Supreme Leader of Iran

    Under the Islamic Republic of Iran’s velayat-e faqih (guardianship of the jurist) system of government, the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is the most powerful political official in Iran. His powers include “constitutional authority over the judiciary, the regular armed forces and the elite Revolutionary Guards, and the state-controlled media.” Given the power vested in Ayatollah Khamenei's position, understanding his political and ideological views—"In His Own Words"— is crucial to understanding the Iranian regime’s current domestic and foreign policies.

  • Mohammad Eslami

    Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Director

    In August 2021, President Ebrahim Raisi appointed Mohammad Eslami to serve as Director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI). Eslami has held leadership positions in military and defense, aviation and engineering, but lacks direct experience in the nuclear energy field.  

  • Hassan Rouhani

    Former President of Iran

    Hassan Rouhani has emerged victorious with 57% of the vote in the May 2017 Iranian election, defeating his primary hardline challenger Ebrahim Raisi and the five other candidates permitted to run out of over 1600 applicants. Western media accounts of the Iranian election (See here, here, here, here, here, here and here for a small sampling) incorrectly sought to portray Rouhani as a “moderate” or “reformist,” and erroneously concluded that his reelection would be a harbinger of domestic social reforms and a more conciliatory approach to foreign policy. Characterizations of Rouhani’s “moderation” ignored the reality of Rouhani’s true nature as a loyal servant of Iran’s Islamic Revolution who is dedicated to the preservation of its repressive, theocratic regime.

  • Amir Ali Hajizadeh

    Commander of the IRGC’s Aerospace Force

    As commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Aerospace Force (IRGC-AF), Amir Ali Hajizadeh plays a critical role in the development, proliferation, and use of Iran’s drone and missile programs. Since the death of Qassem Soleimani, the late commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force, Hajizadeh has presided over a more active and assertive IRGC-AF. The longevity of his tenure is a sign of the confidence that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has in his abilities.

  • Abolqasem Salavati

    The Judge of Death

    Abolqasem (also spelled ‘Abolghassem’) Salavati is an Iranian judge infamous for violating the human rights of defendants and sentencing them to death or long prison terms on trumped-up charges. He is nicknamed “The Hanging Judge” and “The Judge of Death.”