Who Is Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf? US Eyes Iran’s Parliament Speaker And Former IRGC Commander As A Potential Partner And Future Leader

President Donald Trump of the US has given Iran a deadline to open the Strait of Hormuz and suspended planned attacks on energy infrastructure of critical importance saying that Washington was in negotiations with a respected Iranian leader. Although Trump did not mention the name, he explained that US has not been in contact with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. With this uncertainty, there have been reports that the US are investigating the possibility of alternative centres of power in Iran, and mainly influential people that might be involved in the possible negotiations.

Who Is Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf?

A report by Politico revealed that there are some people in the white house legislature who perceive the parliament speaker of Iran, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf as a potential partner, even a future leader that could be reached out to by the US in the next stage of the war. No final decision has been reached yet, but Ghalibaf is said to be one of the various options that Washington is considering to exist between the diplomatic options and the military pressure. Other reports suggest that he might be already engaged in the indirect contact, and there is speculation that the discussion to stop the conflict can be conducted in Pakistan in the nearest future.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf: US Eyes Iran’s Parliament Speaker And Former IRGC Commander As A Potential Partner And Future Leader

Ghalibaf is a senior time politician and a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), who has served as a mayor in Tehran and the head of the national police in Iran. Although some in Washington consider that he would be a possible interlocutor, he has come out publicly to disapprove the attempts by Trump that talks are currently in progress, claiming that the US president is trying to manipulate world markets. Ghalibaf is known to be a hardline leader who has very categorical utterances regarding international affairs portraying the role of Iran as a general ideological struggle. This has made him remain a key figure in the debate regarding the future leadership of Iran and the future of the Iranian foreign policy due to his dominance in the Iranian political and security establishment.

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