Ali Shamkhani appointed head of new Defense Council

Ali Shamkhani, senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was appointed Thursday as head of the Defense Council, a new strategic body in charge of coordinating and directing Iran's defense policy.

The appointment was confirmed by a decree signed the same day by Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian, according to Iran's Mehr news agency.

The Supreme National Security Council of Iran (SNSC), led by Admiral Shamkhani until 2023, recently approved the creation of this National Defense Council, which was officially established on Aug. 3, 2025, after being validated by the Supreme Leader and the head of state.

The creation of this body was decided following the 12-day war in June 2025, triggered by an Israeli attack on Iran, which was briefly joined by the U.S. Army carrying out strikes against Iranian nuclear sites.

Shamkhani was injured in the bombings, and at one point even considered killed in a strike, before returning to the public stage.

According to an SNSC statement reported by the daily Tehran Times, the Defense Council's main mission is to conduct centralized reviews and develop defense strategies and plans, as well as to strengthen the operational capacity of the Iranian armed forces.

The new body is also charged with directing any potential war and ensuring the defense of national sovereignty in the face of any attack, while operating under the authority of the Supreme National Security Council.

Born in 1955, Shamkhani is a senior Iranian military and political official and an influential figure in the Islamic Republic's security establishment, according to Al-Mayadeen, which is close to the Iranian axis.

Originally from Ahvaz, he began his political and military career following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, gradually rising through the ranks of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the regime's ideological army, before successively commanding the country's navy and then its regular navy.

In the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, Shamkhani held several key positions. He notably served as defense minister (1997–2005) under President Mohammad Khatami, before taking on one of the regime's most sensitive posts as head of the Supreme National Security Council, which he chaired from 2013 to 2023.

In that position, he established himself as one of the main architects of Iran's defense strategy and regional policy, playing a key role in major security and diplomatic matters.

After leaving the chairmanship of the council, Shamkhani became a political adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader.