Two months into a war with the U.S. and Israel, Iran no longer has a single, undisputed clerical arbiter at the pinnacle of power.
Mojtaba Khamenei remains at the apex of the system, but his role is largely to legitimize decisions made by his generals rather than issue directives himself.
The diplomatic face of Iran at the talks with the U.S. has been Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, more recently joined by parliament speaker Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf - a former Guards commander, Tehran mayor and presidential candidate - who has emerged during the war as a key conduit between Iran’s political, security and clerical elites.
On the ground the central interlocutor has been IRGC commander Ahmad Vahidi, according to a Pakistani and two Iranian sources who identified him weeks ago as Iran's pivotal figure.
"Wartime pressure has concentrated power into a narrower, harder-line inner circle rooted in the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), the Supreme Leader’s office and the IRGC, which now dominates both military strategy and key political decisions," Reuters reported.
