As Iran’s parliament speaker and lead negotiator in ongoing diplomatic talks with the United States, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf stands at the most critical political crossroads of his decades-long career in military and public service. A lifelong conservative and former senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Ghalibaf is currently navigating a high-stakes balancing act: pushing to pull the Islamic Republic out of its deep confrontation with Washington through diplomatic negotiation, while fending off scathing attacks from hardline factions that accuse him of surrendering Iran’s core strategic leverage.
General Ghalibaf’s gamble: An IRGC veteran takes on Iran’s hardliners to pursue diplomacy
