A veteran of Iran's hardline military and security establishment, Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, has been appointed Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), the Office of the Iranian President announced on Tuesday, March 24.
Presidential deputy for information Mohammad Mahdi Tabatabaei said the appointment was made by presidential decree from President Masoud Pezeshkian and endorsed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei.
A former senior officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Zolqadr brings decades of experience across Iran's security, military, and judicial structures. Over his career, he has served as Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces for Basij affairs, Deputy for Security at the Interior Ministry, advisor to the Judiciary Chief for crime prevention, and Head of the IRGC Joint Staff during the presidency of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. He also led the electoral headquarters of the Popular Front of Islamic Revolutionary Forces.
Zolqadr succeeds Ali Larijani, who was killed in an Israeli-American strike on March 17, and had most recently served as Secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council, a post he had held since 2022.
He has previously been sanctioned by the United Nations, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Australia in connection with his role in Iran's security apparatus, though UN sanctions against him were lifted in October 2023.
Zolqadr holds a bachelor's degree in economics, a master's in public administration from Tehran University, and a doctorate in strategic management from the National Defense University.
His appointment could be seen as signalling continuity in Iran's hardline security posture amid escalating regional tensions.
Photo: Tasnim News Agency