Iran names ex-Revolutionary Guards commander to replace Ali Larijani

TEHRAN: Iran has named a former Revolutionary Guards commander and senior figure in the hardline political faction on Tuesday to replace the head of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), Ali Larijani, who was assassinated in US-Israeli strikes last week.

Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr was appointed as Larijani's successor as secretary of the SNSC, the Iranian president's deputy of communications posted on X on Tuesday.

The SNSC, formally chaired by the elected president, Masoud Pezeshkian, coordinates security and foreign policy, and includes top military, intelligence and government officials in addition to representatives of the supreme leader who has ultimate say over all matters of state.

Zolqadr is a former Revolutionary Guards commander who has in the past held senior security positions such as deputy for security at the Interior Ministry, deputy at the armed forces' general staff and advisor to the judiciary chief for crime prevention.

He headed the electoral headquarters of the hardline political faction, the Popular Front of Islamic Revolutionary Forces. Since 2022, he has served as secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council, an assembly that resolves differences between parliament and the Guardian Council of Shi'ite clerics and jurists who can veto legislation and supervise elections.

Iran’s military spox says forces will fight ‘until complete victory’

The spokesman of Iran’s top military command says the country's armed forces will fight “until complete victory,” according to Al Jazeera.

The comments by Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi of the Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters, carried by state television, said, “Iran’s powerful armed forces are proud, victorious and steadfast in defending Iran’s integrity, and this path will continue until complete victory”.

The general did not say what “complete victory” would look like, Al Jazeera reported, but the Qatari news organisation added that it appeared likely that Iran’s military was trying to warn against offering concessions in any possible negotiations with the US.

Meanwhile, Iran launched multiple waves of missiles at Israel, the Israeli military said, after US President Donald Trump postponed a threat to bomb the Islamic Republic's power grid because of what he described as productive talks with Iranian officials.

The missiles triggered air raid sirens in Israel, including Tel Aviv, where gaping holes were torn through a multi-storey apartment building. It was not immediately clear if the damage was caused by a direct hit or debris from an interception.

Israel's Fire and Rescue Service said they were searching for civilians trapped in one building in Tel Aviv and discovered civilians in a shelter in another damaged building.

Three senior Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump appeared determined to reach a deal, but that they thought it highly unlikely that Iran would agree to US demands in any new round of negotiations.

After Trump's Truth Social comment on Monday, Iran said no talks had yet been held. Iran's embassy in South Africa posted an image on X showing a child's pink steering wheel placed on a car dashboard in front of the passenger seat, apparently mocking Trump's idea, aired to reporters, that he could control the Strait of Hormuz alongside Iran's supreme leader.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who spoke to Trump less than 48 hours before their countries began the war, was expected to convene a meeting of security officials for talks on Trump's bid for a deal with Iran, two senior Israeli officials said.

A Pakistani official has said direct talks may be held in Islamabad this week.

Israel's military said on Tuesday its fighter jets had carried out a large wave of strikes in central Tehran on Monday, targeting key command centres, including facilities associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ intelligence arm and the Iranian Intelligence Ministry. It said more than 50 additional targets were hit overnight, including ballistic missile storage and launch sites.

Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Monday that the US and Iran had held "very good and productive" conversations about a "complete and total resolution of hostilities in the Middle East".

As a result, he said, he was postponing for five days a plan to hit Iran's energy grid. His announcement sent share prices higher and oil prices sharply lower to below $100 a barrel, a sudden reversal to a market swoon caused by his weekend threats and Iran's vows to respond.

Those gains were in jeopardy on Tuesday, however, after Iran's powerful parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf - who an Israeli official and two other sources familiar with the matter said was the interlocutor in the talks on the Iranian side - said no negotiations had taken place.

"No negotiations have been held with the US, and fake news is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the US and Israel are trapped," he wrote on X.