Iran's president selects a new representative to the Supreme National Security Council to replace a long-serving official

 

After being connected to a recent espionage controversy, Iran's president on Monday named a new official to succeed long-standing prominent official Ali Shamkhani as secretary of the country's Supreme National Security Council.

President Ebrahim Raisi signed a proclamation to replace Shamkhani, who was the subject of ongoing allegations of corruption, which he denied, as well as scrutiny due to his associations with a British-Iranian man who was killed in Iran earlier this year on suspicion of spying.

In addition to years of tensions that followed then-President Donald Trump's 2018 decision to unilaterally remove America from the agreement, Shamkhani was a crucial role in discussions with the West over Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with major nations.

The directive, which was carried by the government-run IRNA news agency, gave no justification for the modification. As suspicions about his job spread on Sunday night on Twitter, Shamkhani cryptically shared a line from a poem by the Persian poet Mohtasham Kashani who lived in the 14th century.

He will be replaced by a member of the Revolutionary Guard as Iran continues to experience economic pressure from Western sanctions, struggles in the wake of months-long demonstrations against Mahsa Amini's death while in the care of Iran's morality police, and a recent de-escalation with Iran's Gulf Arab neighbors, particularly Saudi Arabia.

Shamkhani has been in charge for slightly under ten years. He wasn't the secretary of the council's highest-level security committee for the longest time, according to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Prior to becoming president, Hassan Rouhani worked in the same position for 15 years.

Shamkhani, however, was seen to be trusted by Khamenei and other theocratic rulers in Iran. Shamkhani has played a significant role in discussions with Gulf Arab countries as they attempted to defuse tensions with Tehran. He was also there when Iran and Saudi Arabia reportedly established a détente in China.

Shamkhani, however, came under growing pressure from the theocracy. Shamkhani has once again been accused of corruption, especially over real estate and shipping dealings connected to his family, after purported minutes of a meeting between him and high-ranking Revolutionary Guard officers were leaked earlier this year. Shamkhani vehemently refuted all accusations.

Ali Reza Akbari, a British-Iranian and close buddy of senior security officer Shamkhani, was executed by hanging in Iran in January for espionage. The BBC's Persian station broadcast an audio message from Akbari in which he said that Shamkhani had accused him of receiving top-secret material "in exchange for a bottle of perfume and a shirt."