Global Courant 2023-05-22 13:39:09
Ali Shamkhani, one of the top figures in the Iranian establishment, has resigned after nearly a decade as the country’s security chief.
State media confirmed on Monday that President Ebrahim Raisi, as head of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), has appointed Ali Akbar Ahmadian, a senior commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as Shamkhani’s replacement.
Shamkhani was appointed secretary of the SNSC in September 2013 and has played a major role in shaping the security policy of the Islamic Republic over the past decade.
He appeared to announce his departure late on Sunday by posting an excerpt of a cryptic poem by 16th-century Iranian poet Muhtasham Kashani on Twitter.
Shamkhani is leaving his post after successfully completing a detente with Saudi Arabia, where the two countries agreed to restore diplomatic ties after a seven-year rift in a China-brokered deal in March.
Tehran is also on track to improve its diplomatic relations with other neighbors in the region, while also befriending Russia and China more and more as its ally Syria has also been welcomed back into the Arab League.
However, relations with the West remain very contentious amid stalled efforts to restore Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and after protests rocked Iran last September. The SNSC was in charge of the nuclear dossier and at the same time was one of the main entities managing the local unrest, but Shamkhani was only one of the voices on the council.
China’s Wang Yi, center, Iran’s Ali Shamkhani, right, and Saudi Arabia’s Musaad bin Mohammed Al Aiban, left, pose for photos at a rally in Beijing, China, March 10, 2023 (China Daily via Reuters)
In a national security speech that turned out to be his farewell address, Shamkhani said the world order is changing and the Islamic Republic must adjust its macro policies accordingly.
“A new world order would initially mean a disruption of the current order and disorder as a result of the evolution of the current order, but this is not inherently positive, and our readiness and role in the new world order can make its changes positive for us, ‘he said.
He also discussed the so-called “axis of resistance” of forces backed by Iran across the region, saying: “Current circumstances may prove to be in favor of the axis of resistance, but we cannot accept the doctrine of resistance in a doctrine of domination.”
At a meeting last week with Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and Iran’s ambassadors to other countries, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also alluded to a changing world order, saying it will be a “rough process full of unexpected events” that Iran faces. must prepare. .
Why did he leave?
No detailed official reason has been given for Shamkhani’s departure, but it may indicate that the country is moving in an increasingly conservative direction, as Shamkhani was seen as relatively pragmatic.
Shamkhani’s departure had been rumored – and vehemently denied by the state media – several times, most recently earlier this year.
Speculation about his immediate departure raged in January, after one of his former close allies, dual national ex-official Alireza Akbari, was executed for spying for the United Kingdom.
The Iranian-British Akbari, who was one of Shamkhani’s deputies in the Defense Ministry 20 years ago, was hanged amid UK convictions for allegedly acting as a “key spy” for British intelligence.
Shamkhani was also the second longest-serving security chief since the 1979 revolution that gave birth to today’s theocratic establishment, behind only former President Hassan Rouhani, who served as SNSC secretary for nearly 16 years from 1989.
It remains unclear how relevant he will remain in Iran’s future centers of power, but he has shown in recent decades that he is adept at navigating the country’s military and political landscape.
A versatile man
Arguably the most senior ethnic Arab figure in the establishment since the revolution, Shamkhani is the only top figure to have served at the highest levels of both the country’s military and the IRGC, and has also held senior positions in reformist, centrist and conservative presidential governments.
A professional soldier, he was one of the most influential figures in the IRGC during the nascent post-revolution years, and was among the senior commanders during the eight-year Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s.
He led the division of the elite force in the western province of Khuzestan, which suffered the most from the war, and was later promoted to deputy commander in chief and then head of the IRGC ground forces.
Shortly after the end of the war, Khamenei, who had just become the country’s supreme leader, appointed Shamkhani as the naval commander of the Iranian army and later installed him as IRGC naval chief. He currently holds the rank of rear admiral, the highest naval rank bestowed by the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces – the supreme leader.
When reformist politician Mohammad Khatami became president in 1997, Shamkhani was elected as his defense minister and held that position until 2001. Shamkhani challenged Khatami in the next election cycle, but was unsuccessful in disrupting his re-election. Nevertheless, he returned as defense minister and served until 2005.
During ultra-conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s eight-year tenure, Shamkhani was largely out of the limelight, but made a comeback when moderate Rouhani won the presidency in 2013.
Rouhani, who led the SNSC as president, appointed Shamkhani as secretary, replacing the ultra-conservative Saeed Jalili – who still plays a major role on the council as the representative of the Supreme Leader, and continues to influence Iran’s domestic and foreign policy.
Shamkhani was Iran’s fourth security chief since the revolution, after Rouhani, Ali Larijani, who was secretary for only about two years, and Jalili, who held the position for about six years.
