US President Donald Trump said on Monday that talks are underway with Iran, raising hopes of a possible agreement to end the war.
according to American news website AxiosEgypt, Pakistan and Turkey all mediated between the US and Iran on Sunday and attempted to arrange a phone call with Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and his team for Monday.
However, Tehran’s leadership has denied any such talks. Ghalibaf called it “fake news” created to manipulate the financial and oil markets.
and accordingly wall street journalThousands of US Marines will be deployed to the Middle East this Friday to secure the Strait of Hormuz.
From revolutionary guard to powerful politician
Ghalibaf, 64, is a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and a pilot. He holds a doctorate in political geography and his dissertation explored the relationships between space, power, the state, and security policy.
As a young soldier, Ghalibaf fought in the Iran–Iraq War between 1980 and 1988 and rose through the ranks of the IRGC. After the war ended, he became head of the IRGC’s engineering branch, Khatam al-Anbiya. This organization was tasked with rebuilding the country after the war with Iraq and continues to function as their economic arm today. Hundreds of subsidiaries and subcontractors are under its umbrella.
In 1997, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, appointed Ghalibaf as commander of the IRGC Air Force. Along with other leaders, he was key in suppressing Iran’s 1999 student protests. Along with military officer Qassem Soleimani, he signed a threatening letter to then-President Mohammad Khatami warning the government not to “tolerate” the protests. In later interviews, Ghalibaf said that he personally beat protesters with sticks while riding motorcycles on the streets. A year later, he became the country’s police chief.
Ghalibaf was driven by political ambition and ran for the presidency three times.
In 2005, he lost to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was then mayor of Tehran. Ghalibaf later held the post of mayor of the capital, a position he held from 2005 to 2017.
In 2013, she again ran for president, this time losing to Hassan Rouhani. In 2017, he ultimately withdrew his candidacy to support another conservative candidate.
Ongoing corruption allegations, controversies
Iranian journalists report that during his tenure in Tehran, many government-owned properties were allegedly sold at prices well below market value, in some cases at only half their actual value. The buyers are said to have included government officials as well as members of the Ghalibaf family.
Additionally, Ghalibaf is accused of transferring substantial sums from the city treasury to his wife’s foundation, which pledges to support single mothers and women who are the primary breadwinners for their families. The operations of the foundation are not transparent.
But corruption allegations against Ghalibaf were never fully investigated due to his close ties to Khamenei. Journalists who reported on this matter were jailed.
Ghalibaf’s family has also been in the headlines in recent years. One point of discussion was his son Ishaq’s attempt to obtain permanent residence in Canada. He had been demanding a decision from Canadian immigration authorities since 2019 and had even sued them in federal court over the delay. Ishak’s attempt to obtain a residence permit sparked debate among the Iranian public, especially since it appeared to contradict his father’s staunch anti-Western stance. Ultimately, his application to Canada was rejected.
The trip of his daughter and her family to Türkiye also made headlines. In 2022, photographs were published showing her returning from Istanbul carrying items for babies, which local media described as “newborn baby kits”. Given that the country was suffering from an extended economic crisis and rapidly rising inflation due to sanctions and mismanagement, the incident was also sharply criticized.
Ghalibaf is considered highly influential within the IRGC. The fact that, unlike many of the country’s other high-ranking officials, he has so far been spared American and Israeli strikes in Iran has fueled speculation about his future role.
This article was originally published in German.