A Tuesday report said Iran’s Revolutionary Guard blocked President Masoud Pezeshkian’s presidential appointments, with sources describing a security cordon around Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. The report said the IRGC has effectively assumed control over key state functions, leaving Pezeshkian in what it called a complete political deadlock.
The most immediate clash came over the choice of a new intelligence minister. Pezeshkian’s effort collapsed after direct pressure from IRGC commander Ahmad Vahidi, and sources told Iran International that every proposed candidate, including former Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan, was rejected.
That matters because Iran’s president normally nominates an intelligence minister only after securing approval from the supreme leader. The report frames the dispute as part of a broader expansion of military influence in Iran, where the IRGC is the elite branch of the Iranian Armed Forces and has expanded its role over the last three decades, according to Behnam Ben Taleblu.
Ben Taleblu said it was always a matter of when, not if, the IRGC would step forward even more than it has in the last three decades. He also warned that it would be a mistake to treat the reported move as a coup. Lisa Daftari called Vahidi a radical even within the regime’s hardline elite and said his rise is a warning that Tehran’s war machine now calls the shots.
The sharpest detail in the report was Vahidi’s demand that “all critical and sensitive positions must be chosen and managed directly by the Revolutionary Guard until further notice.” If that line holds, the question is no longer whether Pezeshkian can break the deadlock, but whether civilian authority in Tehran can still make a decision the guard does not first approve.