Why was Mohsen Rezaei appointed instead of Bagher Zolghadr?

What he says

An English translation of the talk, which is in Persian. It was made with AI from YouTube's automatic captions and may contain errors; the Persian transcript is authoritative. Click a timestamp to jump to that part of the video.

0:01 Hello. It is Friday, 16 Amordad 1405, August 7, 2026. Today's important news, which is in a way strategic and consequential, was the signing of a tripartite pact in the city of Mecca. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed a pact today which they called "collective deterrence," and they issued an eight-point statement, but the detailed text of the pact has not yet been released. The pact was signed at the highest level of the three countries, namely Mr. Erdogan of Turkey, Mr.

1:02 Shehbaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan (General Asim Munir, the Pakistani Army Chief of Staff, was also present), and Mr. Mohammed bin Salman, the Prime Minister and Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. This tripartite pact between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan is set out in eight articles. Perhaps the most important is the article in which they specified collective deterrence against any act of aggression, and from one angle this article is the most important article of the pact, because

1:55 it resembles NATO's article and stipulates that any armed attack against any one of these three countries will be considered an attack against all of them. In Article 7 of the pact there is also an agreement providing for the strengthening and expansion of all aspects of defense cooperation between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan. Now, in fact, one can say that this pact between three large and powerful countries of the Middle East is in a way reminiscent of the CENTO pact, which was signed in 1955

2:51 between Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Britain. Of course, with Iraq's withdrawal after the coup there in 1958, and then during Mr. Bakhtiar's government at the time of the Iranian revolution, with Iran's withdrawal from CENTO, the pact effectively fell apart. Now Saudi Arabia has taken Iran's place, alongside Pakistan and Turkey. Turkey is a member of NATO and has the largest ground force among NATO member countries after America, and also in the Middle East region. It has a strong air force, as well as a navy. Its defense industry, especially in the production of drones and new generations

3:54 of drones and so on, has made great progress. It is a country that currently has a critical economic situation, but in any case it is regarded as a kind of link between this pact and NATO, because NATO's article also says that if any of the countries is attacked, it is tantamount to an attack on the other countries. So if Turkey becomes engaged under this pact, then in addition to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, NATO on that side would also be engaged, and this raises its importance. Saudi Arabia has one of the largest arsenals

4:47 in the region. It has bought billions upon billions of dollars of weapons in recent years, especially for its air force. It might be called the richest country in the region, and in a way it holds leadership of the Arab world, at least. In addition, in the Islamic world it has a special place as the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. And Pakistan is the most populous of these three countries; it has a strong air force and an extensive ground force, and it is a nuclear power. It is said that Pakistan has twice as many atomic bombs as Israel. In any case, these three countries together make up a

5:45 great force. Regarding the signing of this agreement, this pact, in Mecca: for example, Mr. Erdogan landed in Jeddah and went to Mecca by car. Mecca, the religious city of the Islamic world, in fact the holiest place in the Islamic world, gives it a certain character, and with the emphasis placed in the pact on brotherhood and "friendly, brotherly countries" and so on, this pact could be a prelude that upsets the equations of the region. In the remarks made after the signing, Mr. Erdogan, for example, stated that

6:37 the pact is open to other countries as well. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan each stated explicitly that the pact is not directed against anyone and does not pursue nuclear ambitions, which one could say is perhaps a finger pointing toward Iran. And this pact, in which America is not directly present, could, in my opinion, be very, very worrying for Israel, since Israel is present in this region, and Israel will certainly follow it closely, and

7:32 will probably disrupt this pact if it can, because Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have not yet recognized Israel, and Turkey, which once had relations with it, now has dark relations with it. Add to this, after the events in Gaza, Mr. Erdogan's statements and his clashing with Israel; on the other side, through Syria and Mr. Jolani's government, Turkey has in a sense come close to becoming a neighbor of Israel; and Turkey has no qualms about declaring that for several hundred years the region of present-day Israel, Jerusalem or Bayt al-Maqdis, was in Ottoman hands and was administered very well by them; and

8:27 there are the open taunts and threats Mr. Erdogan has made against Israel. On the other side, news is coming from Israel that Mr. Roman Gofman, who has become head of the Mossad in place of Mr. David Barnea, has dismissed two of the most senior Mossad officials. It is said, of course, that this was by agreement with these two individuals, but it is said that these two had a major, central role in the plan to overthrow the regime in Iran, and in the so-called designs such as arming the Kurds, striking border posts, and hitting security sites inside the country, even the issue of

9:26 Ahmadinejad and other things, and those bizarre plans of which Israel had also tried to convince Mr. Trump, which in any case came to nothing and ignited the fire of a war. One can say that this very pact is one of the consequences of the war that Israel and America started with Iran, which brought the Persian Gulf region and the Strait of Hormuz to their current state of crisis, a situation that, with Iran's proxy force, the Houthis, acting against Saudi Arabia, spread to the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb as well. In any case, the question arises whether these three large

10:24 Sunni countries, and it is very likely that Egypt will also join this pact, and then the Persian Gulf countries will probably join it too. Will Iraq also join this pact, for example, given the invitation Mr. Mohammed bin Salman has again extended to Ali al-Zaidi, the Prime Minister of Iraq? And then what will the Islamic Republic of Iran do? Will it give up these proxy forces and these bizarre stories and troublemaking, and will Iran also join this pact or not? Because if Iran, in Khamenei's time and even before that, always claimed that America

11:22 threatens Iran, that if it didn't show hostility, America would want to overthrow the regime, would attack, and so on, and that the American threat is serious, then this pact and joining it could completely upset the regional equations, and Iran too could be placed on the road to calm and peace in the region. There is still no news of an announced agreement between Iran and Oman over the Strait of Hormuz, but both sides say they are close to an agreement. Of course, some say Oman is speaking on behalf of America, but in

12:16 America sharp criticism is being directed at Mr. Trump, who in effect started a war in which, in the so-called Strait of Hormuz affair, America itself has now been put in parentheses. In any case, we must wait and see whether the snag that has arisen in Article 5 of the 14-article memorandum of understanding between Iran and America is removed and the way is opened for peace and peace negotiations or not. But Kpler has reported that yesterday, Thursday, only 8 ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz, and last week an average of 13 ships a day passed through the Strait of Hormuz, whereas before this war

13:10 on average more than 100 ships a day passed through the Strait of Hormuz, sometimes as many as 130 or 140 ships a day. The replacement of Mr. Bagher Zolghadr, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, with Mohsen Rezaei is perhaps the most important domestic news in Iran. Mohsen Rezaei had fallen out of favor with Mr. Khamenei; from the time Khamenei became Leader he sidelined him and also removed him from command of the IRGC, because Khamenei neither forgot nor forgave that during the war Rezaei had grown close to Hashemi, and that at times Khamenei was not even allowed into some of the fronts.

14:02 But how is it that this Mohsen Rezaei, who was effectively pushed to the margins in Khamenei's time, has now, by decree of his son, whether he is alive or dead, and in his son's name, been appointed as the Leader's representative and Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council? Various reasons are given, including that Mojtaba is in the process of lining up people who will be yes-men to him, and that Zolghadr apparently said things that showed he was not very obedient or a yes-man toward Mojtaba. It is also said that Zolghadr had in fact grown close to Ghalibaf and the so-called peace-making faction, and that this move by the Beit [the Leader's office] to sideline Zolghadr is

15:01 in line with the fact that Mojtaba, like his father, does not want any faction to have the upper hand, lest Ghalibaf and his gang and his support base gain too much power. In addition, it must also be said that Mohsen Rezaei is one of Iran's existing Al Capones. His son-in-law Ali Ahmadi, his son-in-law's brother, his younger son and so on and so forth are one of those mafia gangs involved in sanctions evasion, smuggled oil exports and the like, and they have a support base that also cooperates with the Leader's office. This so-called kleptocracy of Iran and the struggle among these gangs should not be overlooked either. And finally, the CEO of the Union of Dairy Cooperatives

16:04 has stated that annual dairy consumption per Iranian, which was more than 130 kilograms in the year '87 [1387], has fallen to 40 kilograms a year, that is, a decrease of 90 kilograms in dairy consumption per Iranian. In terms of health, especially the health of children, who need dairy products more than anyone, this decline in dairy consumption, which is due to high prices and people's economic situation, is very, very worrying. Hoping for the victory of Iran and Iranians.