Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr

Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr (born 1954) is an Iranian politician and former military officer who serves as a political advisor to the Supreme Leader of Iran. He previously served as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council from March to August 2026 and as secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council from 2021 to 2026.

Before the 1979 Islamic revolution, Zolghadr was active in carrying out attacks against the monarchy, and in 1978 he killed an American engineer and an oil company manager. He served as the commander of the IRGC Irregular Warfare Headquarters, as well as the Ramazan Headquarters, which formed the basis for the Quds Force, the IRGC’s foreign branch that conducts asymmetric warfare outside of Iran. He was later a Brigadier General in the IRGC, with whom he served from 1979 to 2010. He was the Chief of the Joint Staff of the IRGC from 1989 to 1997, and Second-in-Command of the IRGC from 1997 to 2006.

After he helped Mahmoud Ahmadinejad come to power with a "multilayered plan," from 2005 to 2007 he was Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs and Police under Ahmadinejad. From 2012 to 2021 he was the deputy for strategic, societal–security and crime prevention affairs in the judicial system of Iran.

He is known for his hard-line views, and said on 24 March 2026 that the IRGC should gain more control over the country.

Early life and education Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr was born in 1954 in Fasa, near Shiraz, Iran. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Tehran, prior to Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution. He is reportedly one of the founders of Ansar-e Hezbollah, a conservative paramilitary organization in Iran. He later served as the commander of the IRGC Irregular Warfare Headquarters, as well as the Ramazan Headquarters, which formed the basis for the Quds Force, the IRGC’s foreign branch that conducts asymmetric warfare outside of Iran.

He was the Chief of the Joint Staff of the IRGC from 1989 to 1997. In 2007, Zolghadr was appointed the deputy chief of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces for Basij-related affairs.

Political career Following the Iranian Revolution, Zolghadr joined the Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization and belonged to its right-wing faction, having previously been a member of Mansouroun guerrilla organization along with later fellow IRGC servicemen Rezaei, Shamkhani and Rashid.

After he helped Mahmoud Ahmadinejad come to power with a "multilayered plan," from 2005 to 2007 he was Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs and Police under Ahmadinejad. In April 2007, he warned the U.S. that if it were to attack Iran, Iran would fire “tens of thousands of missiles at American targets every day." In August 2026, he resigned from his post and was replaced by Mohsen Rezaee, an advisor for Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

Judicial career In 2010, Zolghadr began serving as an advisor to the Chief Justice Sadiq Larijani, the brother of Ali Larijani.

Personal life Zolghadr is married to Sedigheh Begum Hejazi, who has served as Director-General of the Office of Women and Family Affairs at the Organization of Islamic Culture and Communication. His son-in-law, Kazem Gharibabadi, is an Iranian diplomat who has represented Iran in Vienna at international organizations, including the International Atomic Energy Agency.