Iran's chief negotiator with the United States, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has been re-elected as speaker of the Islamic Republic's Majlis, the semi-official Fars news agency reported, citing Reuters.
Ghalibaf met with Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir in Tehran on Saturday as part of ongoing diplomatic efforts to resolve regional tensions. The parliamentary speaker said that the Iranian armed forces had restored their potential during the ceasefire and that if the US had the imprudence “to resume the war, the consequences would be even more destructive and bitter“.
It was recently reported that Ghalibaf would also be responsible for relations with China, an important direction given the fact that Beijing is the largest consumer of Iranian oil, reported Agence France-Presse, quoted by BTA.
The speaker of the Majlis is one of the few survivors of the regime's old guard. He is a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), mayor of Tehran and presidential candidate who has been a link between Iran's political, military and spiritual elites since the beginning of the war.
However, the main Iranian negotiator on the ground is IRGC commander Ahmad Vahidi, according to two Iranian and one Pakistani officials, who identified him weeks ago as a key figure on the Iranian side, including on the night the ceasefire agreement was announced.
According to analysts, the real power in Iran is currently held by the IRGC, and Vahidi is currently the new strongman in the country, leaving representatives of the old elite of the Islamic Republic such as Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in his shadow.