Tehran, Iran – Negotiations to prevent a further outbreak of war between Iran and the United States are being held, but the stagnant process has highlighted who holds power within Iran’s government. President Masoud Pezeshkian, a relative moderate, said on Monday that his government had been given “certain powers” by Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei regarding the negotiations with the US. Pezeshkian, who has come under fire from hardliners opposed to any deal with Washington, did not give any details about what authority this entails.
His comment followed efforts by mediators, including Qatar and Pakistan, to prevent new US strikes on Iran. There have been strong indications of an impending major escalation in the conflict, which began with US and Israeli air strikes on Iran on February 28, which killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other top Iranian officials. Since then, the balance of power in Iran has increasingly shifted towards the commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other security-minded officials.
The political analyst added that this is especially true given that negotiations now concern not just the Iranian nuclear programme and sanctions but also the broader security arrangements emerging from the war, including control over the Strait of Hormuz and guarantees against renewed attacks. Iran has put forward a seven-point plan it demands the US abide by to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian authorities said decision-making on the war and negotiations takes place through a concerted approach within the framework of the institutions of the government.
Those institutions include the office of the supreme leader and the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC). Military and security figures and bodies are prominent in all of them. Mojtaba Khamenei’s office said he met with top military commanders, including IRGC chief commander Ahmad Vahidi, to give them directives on how to handle US threats of all-out war.
Khamenei said Iran’s armed forces should respond immediately and without geographical restrictions against any threat and expand their list of US and Israeli targets in case the war escalates. Ultimately, important decisions, such as ending the war, are decided by the supreme leader, but the SNSC – which includes representatives from the armed forces, ministers from the government, and the heads of parliament and the judiciary – votes on them first. By law, Iran’s president is also the head of the SNSC, but the position of the secretary has recently held more weight due to his role as a central coordinator for top national security files.
That position has been occupied since early August by Mohsen Rezaei, a former IRGC commander-in-chief who has never held public office. When US Vice President JD Vance wrote a letter to Tehran last week, he addressed it to Rezaei, not the president or Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker, who has also acted as its chief negotiator in recent months. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Rezaei, not Ghalibaf, would respond to the letter if he chooses.
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