TEHRAN — Iran has appointed Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, a veteran commander of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), as the new secretary of the Supreme National Security Council. He replaces Ali Larijani, who was assassinated in a U.S.-Israeli airstrike last week.

The appointment, announced on Tuesday by Seyyed Mehdi Tabatabai, a deputy aide to the president, was made by decree of President Masoud Pezeshkian and received the formal endorsement of the country’s new leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei.

Zolqadr, who most recently served as secretary of the Expediency Council, assumes the role amid ongoing U.S.-Israeli aggression against Iran. He brings decades of experience across Iran’s military, security, and judicial institutions. He previously served as deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces for Basij affairs and held senior positions in the judiciary for nearly a decade.

Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Zolqadr earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Tehran University, followed by a master’s in public administration from the same institution. He later completed a doctorate in strategic management at the National Defense University.

Following the Iran-Iraq war in the late 1980s, Zolqadr served for eight years as head of the IRGC Joint Staff during the presidency of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. He then spent another eight years as deputy commander-in-chief of the IRGC.

The reshuffle has drawn widespread coverage in Iranian media, which has emphasized Zolqadr’s “revolutionary credentials” and extensive background in both internal security and military strategy.

Iran’s Parliament Speaker and former IRGC commander Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf hailed Zolqadr’s appointment as an important step forward.

“He embodies the principle of ‘a worthy successor to a worthy predecessor,’ reminding us of a divine promise fulfilled,” Qalibaf said in a written statement.

“This servant of the Leader of the Revolution and our martyred Imam will undoubtedly shine on the path of a proud and powerful Iran and in confronting the American-Zionist aggressors,” he added.

Zolqadr’s predecessor, Larijani, was assassinated in a U.S.-Israeli strike on his office in Tehran on March 16, 2026. He was among several Iranian officials the two regimes have killed since beginning their war against Iran on February 28. In their opening strikes, they murdered Iran's Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei—who is now succeeded by one of his sons—along with several Iranian commanders. Analysts have pointed out that the U.S. and Israel's so-called "decapitation" strategy does not serve to topple or destabilize the Iranian government; rather, such moves result in more conservative and hardened figures taking the lead.