To go or stay Shamkhani
The last survivor of moderates in the Rouhani government
According to Iran Gate, there have been unofficial reports circulating on some Telegram channels of the Nour News website, which is described as close to the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, Ali Shamkhani, regarding his dismissal. However, Shamkhani has denied these reports and stated that no decision has been made in this regard.
Contradictory news about Shamkhani’s dismissal has been published while in recent days, the Ministry of Intelligence of Iran stated in its statements that Alireza Akbari, who was the Deputy for International Affairs during Ali Shamkhani’s tenure at the Ministry of Defense, is one of the most important infiltrating factors of British espionage service.
In an audio file released by Alireza Akbari, he claims that interrogators have accused him of receiving sensitive information from Shamkhani in exchange for giving him a bottle of perfume and a shirt, and that he has provided this information to foreigners.
Alireza Akbari, who some Iranian media outlets refer to as a top spy, has been sentenced to death. He has a background in Iranian military and security institutions and holds dual citizenship of Iran and Britain.
Denial by Nour News
However, the Nornews website, which is close to Ali Shamkhani, has tried to prevent the potential costs of Akbari’s arrest for Ali Shamkhani. In a note, the website confirms the informational and security achievements in dealing with espionage in one of the government agencies and working with various individuals. It adds that this cannot be considered as a reason to associate the actions of this individual with that agency or its officials.
In this note, Ali Reza Akbari is not mentioned by name, but criticism is made of how he is associated with Shamkhani, and pressure groups are accused of using this issue to achieve their political and band goals.
In this article, Shamkhani’s political rivals are also indirectly threatened, and it is stated that there are important things that will be addressed at the appropriate time.
In this writing, security institutions are also asked to identify irresponsible individuals who create a media frenzy to seize the valuable achievements of these institutions in uncovering spy networks for their own benefit.
Ali Shamkhani, the last moderate.
Although the exact reason for the pressures on Shamkhani or his close associates is still unclear, reports have emerged during the past four months of protests indicating dissatisfaction from Ayatollah Khamenei towards Ali Shamkhani.
In one of the leaked bulletins from Fars News Agency, which was published after the agency was hacked, it was stated that the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic expressed dissatisfaction with his delay and inaction.
The website Nour News has occasionally published articles criticizing the harsh treatment of protesters during the recent protests.
In one of the analytical articles on this site, security forces were urged to differentiate between the protesters and the opposition movement, and to justify their actions by referring to the statements of Ayatollah Khamenei calling for ‘Jihad-e-Tebieen’ (clarification campaign).
‘Jihad-e-Tebieen’ is a term used by the Iranian leader to convince the protesters, and it quickly became one of the repetitive keywords in government propaganda.
Nour News also wrote in an article that the aim is not to eliminate the effective influence of advertising temptations on the minds of young people and adolescents, but rather to clarify and enlighten.
From the Revolutionary Guards to the National Security Council and the sidelines, Ali Shamkhani has been involved.
Ali Shamkhani has been one of the founding members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) since the establishment of the Islamic Republic. During the war, he served as a senior commander of the IRGC and was mentioned as one of the main liaisons between the IRGC and senior officials of the Islamic Republic, especially Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the commander at the time, and his deputy, Hassan Rouhani.
At the beginning of the war, he held the command of the IRGC in Khuzestan province, but soon after, he was appointed as the deputy commander of the IRGC and later became the commander of the IRGC Ground Forces.
After the end of the war, Shamkhani, by the order of Ayatollah Khamenei, who had recently become the Supreme Leader, permanently left the IRGC and joined the Iranian Army as the commander of the Navy.
Shamkhani’s military rank in the Navy is equivalent to Lieutenant General, which is the highest military rank awarded to Iranian military personnel by the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.
He became the Minister of Defense in Mohammad Khatami’s first cabinet in 1997. However, when Khatami ran for presidency again after four years, Shamkhani, along with a significant number of fundamentalists, challenged his candidacy.
However, despite this, when Khatami won the elections again in 2001, he once again chose Ali Shamkhani as the Minister of Defense, and he remained in this position until the end of Khatami’s presidency.
During Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s eight years as president, Shamkhani, like many other politicians close to Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, was pushed to the sidelines. But after Hassan Rouhani’s victory in 2013, Shamkhani’s name once again came up in the media, this time as the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, which he obtained by Rouhani’s order and replaced Saeed Jalili.
Since then, he has held this position as the fourth Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, following Hassan Rouhani, Ali Larijani, and Saeed Jalili. This council was responsible for Iran’s nuclear negotiations with global powers until before Rouhani’s presidency. However, Hassan Rouhani transferred this responsibility to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after the start of his presidency. Nevertheless, Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Foreign Minister at the time, stated that the Supreme National Security Council, like in the past, determines the main strategy of the negotiations.
According to the laws of Iran, the President is responsible for the Supreme National Security Council. Before his appointment as Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Shamkhani was the head of the Defense and Security Committee of this council. In 1400, Shamkhani’s family name made headlines again. This time, Iranian media reported that the Kabul ship, owned by Admiral Company, which was seized in India, belongs to the Shamkhani brothers, who are actually Ali Shamkhani’s children.
In response to these reports, Shamkhani tweeted without directly referring to the news of the ship’s seizure in India and its ownership by his children. He wrote that his thoughts and perspectives are not diverted from the main enemy towards the fifth column. Shamkhani, referring to the wound of sanctions and the targeting of internal Western-oriented elements, wrote that he is putting effort into healing this wound, which is a matter of honor. He also indirectly threatened his critics at the end of this tweet, writing that the untold will remain for later.
Iran Gate has exclusively covered Shamkhani’s special case and published an article on this topic with the following title:
Corruption of the Shamkhani family under the protection of the Supreme National Security Council
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