Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf: Speaker of Iran's Parliament

Ghalibaf in 2004 in Amin Police Academy

Afterward, the supreme leader appointed Ghalibaf chief of police or the Law Enforcement Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran (LEF). Khamenei’s selection of Ghalibaf signaled his confidence that Ghalibaf would professionalize the LEF during a sensitive period in the Islamic Republic, as his predecessor Hedayat Lotfian was ousted following the student protests. It was also a check on then-President Khatami during his second term, as Ghalibaf was one of the original signatories to the aforementioned July 1999 public letter. A tape later emerged of Ghalibaf bragging to the Basij paramilitary about how he ordered police to fire at student demonstrators in 2003.

Left to Right: Ghalibaf with Qassem Soleimani

In February 2022, an audio recording of then-IRGC commander-in-chief Mohammad Ali Jafari and his economic affairs deputy further implicated Ghalibaf, along with former Quds Force chief Qasem Soleimani, in a conspiracy to transfer funds to the IRGC. The recording revealed that Ghalibaf, while mayor, sought to cover up a $2 billion embezzlement scheme. According to Jafari’s economic affairs deputy, Ghalibaf demanded that he sign a fraudulent memorandum on behalf of the IRGC with Tehran municipality to cover up the missing funds identified in an audit of the IRGC Cooperative Foundation, the main arm of which was Yas Holding. The recording showed that the deputy refused, but then-chief of the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization Hossein Taeb, who is close to the supreme leader, supported the plan. Soleimani reportedly knew about the financial crimes, which seemed to contradict the supreme leader’s order that 90 percent of Yas Holding’s earnings from real estate dealings should be transferred to the Quds Force.

Instead of resulting in an investigation into Ghalibaf, however, the audio file leak resulted in the arrest of Mohammad Ghaemi by the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization (IRGC-IO), after a complaint was made by Ghalibaf. At the time, the IRGC-IO was led by Hossein Taeb, a Ghalibaf supporter. Ghaemi was formerly in charge of liquidating Yas Holding after the firm was disbanded due to corruption allegations.

Speaker of Parliament

Political analysts differ over when the neoconservative movement—today championed by Ghalibaf—emerged from infighting within the conservative camp. Some say that the movement took root during the 2005 presidential election, which resulted in the victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Others pin its origins to the 2013 presidential election, when Ghalibaf carved out his own political platform, distinct from the hardline conservatives. The latter analysts see Ghalibaf as the progenitor of this new movement, both opposed to the reformist position of former President Khatami, and critical of some revolutionary ideals.

Mohammad Ghalibaf in Parliament

Compared to hardline conservatives, such as former nuclear negotiator in the Ahmadinejad administration Saeed Jalili, who has reportedly advocated exiting the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and ramping up enrichment to 90% purity, Ghalibaf has taken a more moderate position on the 2015 Nuclear Deal. He left open the possibility of Iran rejoining the accord on the condition that western powers abide by their obligations, but at the same time he clearly supports driving a hardline in the negotiations. He said, for example, that no additional terms would be negotiated beyond the original scope of the deal. On other foreign policy issues, such as Financial Action Task Force (FATF) legislation, he tends to side with the more conservative position and oppose reformists. Compliance with FATF—an anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing intergovernmental body—would require the Islamic Republic to end its support for terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas. It could lead to better economic relations and a more modernized Iran, but has been a subject of considerable debate among reformists and principlists, with the latter camp opposed to any obstacles to terror financing. Most reformists, who previously had the backing of former President Rouhani, consider Iran’s blacklisted status by FATF to be a major impediment to improving Iran’s banking and financial ties with the West, however Ghalibaf has said that complying with FATF’s recommendations would be “to [Iran’s] detriment.”

In 2020, Ghalibaf won a seat in Parliament as Tehran’s representative, capitalizing on low voter turnout in Tehran and name recognition. Conservative parties dominated the 2020 parliamentary elections, while reformist parties fared poorly, owing in part to the fact that many of the latter were disqualified by the conservative Guardian Council. The conservative camp in Parliament was thereafter plagued by infighting in the run up to the vote for speaker. Such infighting cost them the presidency in 2013 and 2017, noted one political commentator. Nevertheless, a few months later, Ghalibaf won 230 out of the 267 votes cast by the 290 members of Parliament for speaker, despite frequent attacks against him for his involvement in corruption while mayor of Tehran.

How Ghalibaf managed to win the speakership in a landslide despite the fact that the main conservative factions—the traditional conservatives, the hardline Paydari Front, and the pro-Ahmadinejad factions—allied against him is not exactly clear. According to one pro-Ahmadinejad MP, the three allied blocs had 170 MPs out of 200 conservative MPs in the 290-member body. Ghalibaf was reportedly invited to join the alliance, which called itself the “Committee of Seven,” but did not show up, perhaps because it barred anyone with an intention of running for president in 2021 from a bid for the speakership.

Some analysts hold that Ghalibaf gained support of the other conservatives by pledging that leadership roles in key committees, such as the Budget Committee, the National Security and Foreign Relations Committee, and Article 90, would go to the Paydari Front. Others believe that this landslide victory amid intra-party divisions indicated the intervention of the Office of the Supreme Leader. The IRGC could have also played a role. For instance, the IRGC likely helped suppress corruption investigations, as it was also implicated. And those politicians who wished to expose Ghalibaf’s corruption in political attacks had to tread cautiously, so as not to undermine the IRGC. Still other analysts see the help of the few reformists in the 11th Parliament, who viewed Ghalibaf as sitting on the moderate end of Iran’s conservative spectrum, including with regard to the nuclear deal.

The Paydari Front considers Ghalibaf to be a moderate, whose positions are not very different from the reformists. The front, led by Morteza Tehrani, condemned Ghalibaf for his involvement in corruption and disdained his intermittent support of the nuclear deal. This powerful political bloc has at times insinuated that Ghalibaf is not loyal to the 1979 Islamic Revolution. However, his 230-vote victory suggested that he garnered the support of at least some of the hardliners. The result was that the Paydari Front came to dominate the key committees and continued to do so in 2021. The Guardian Council disqualified over 7,000 moderate candidates from running in the parliamentary elections, ensuring that few of them were voted into parliament. Therefore, they were easily excluded from discussions relating to the next speaker and leadership positions in parliament.

On several occasions in the past, the conservatives sought to resolve their differences, even forming an unofficial council to manage a more unified campaign one year prior to the 2020 parliamentary elections. Meetings were reportedly held between top conservative figures, including Ebrahim Raisi, Mohammad Ghalibaf, Saeed Jalili, and Mohsen Rezaee. Ghalibaf reportedly emerged as the central figure in the council, even as the infighting continued, with the traditional conservatives promoting their own candidate, Mostafa Mir-Salim, and many senior conservatives leaving, including the Paydari Front.

In April 2022, while Ghalibaf was campaigning to retain his speakership, photos emerged on the internet of him traveling with excess luggage, including high-end carriages, baby clothing, and accessories, on his return trip from Turkey. These images prompted calls for his resignation. Seen as emblematic of the lavish lifestyles of regime elites, they were particularly damning because Ghalibaf claims to be a champion of the poor.

An advisor to Ghalibaf claimed that the photos had been circulated by “political-security circles whose interests are in danger.” Ghalibaf’s supporters allege that an intelligence agency linked to the government directed agents to keep watch of Ghalibaf on his travel to Turkey. Among those who made this claim was hardline cleric Mehdi Taeb, the brother of Hossein Taeb. An audio file leaked in which he stated that Ghalibaf had traveled to Turkey on official state business in the past, and alleged that the brother of Raisi’s son-in-law created the leak of Ghalibaf’s scandalous trip to Turkey. To make matters worse for Ghalibaf, at around the same time the photographs went public, an Iranian journalist living in Turkey tweeted that Ghalibaf’s wife, daughter, and son-in-law had purchased luxury apartments in Turkey for $1.6 million.

Both reformist and conservative opponents of Ghalibaf used these media reports and photographs to attack him in the 2022 election for speaker of Parliament, but the attacks evidently had little impact, as he went on to win the speakership again in June, this time with 193 votes. Even though hardline conservative parties controlled a large number of Parliament’s seats, they again failed to achieve their goal of ousting him from the speakership.

However, his lackluster performance will threaten support for his initiatives going forward. It remains to be seen whether pressure from outside Parliament will help him advance his policy agenda. The supreme leader’s preferences can often sway critical votes in the Parliament, not only for the speakership but for important legislation. When Khamenei, for example, signaled his preference against Parliament’s impeachment motion against Raisi cabinet members, the motion was dismissed. The supreme leader, moreover, controls the field of eligible candidates running for parliamentary seats and exercises informal influence behind the legislature and the speaker. He has significantly eroded the Parliament’s authority over the years.

Conclusion