Media: Power in Iran has effectively passed to the IRGC

Due to the ongoing conflict with the United States and the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, power in Iran is increasingly concentrated in the hands of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) leadership.

This is reported by Reuters, citing unnamed Iranian officials.

According to the agency, the center of both military and political decision-making has become a narrow circle of senior figures, including the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), the Office of the Supreme Leader, and the IRGC leadership. At the same time, as Reuters' sources explained, the country's political and religious elite does not possess sufficient influence to resist the IRGC's decisions.

A Pakistani and two Iranian officials identified IRGC Commander Ahmad Vahidi as the key figure in Iran. According to three of the agency's sources, although Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei sits at the top of the formal power structure, his role effectively amounts to legitimizing decisions made by the generals. Due to injuries and security threats, the ayatollah does not appear in public and communicates through IRGC aides, the agency's sources note.

According to experts surveyed by Reuters, this situation is leading to an increasingly hardline political course from Tehran. In their assessment, the obstacle to an Iran-US deal is not internal discord in Tehran but rather the gap between what the White House is willing to offer and what the IRGC leadership is willing to accept. At the same time, experts note, there is no evidence of any fundamental splits within the system or significant public opposition. This cohesion suggests that command over Iran is now in the hands of the National Guard and security services, the specialists conclude.