Who is Ali Larijani, the Hawk of Tehran Making a Comeback?

SadaNews - Recently, the name Ali Larijani, former Speaker of the Iranian Parliament and former Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, has reemerged to respond for Tehran and reaffirm its hardline stance, following reports about the possibility of reviving negotiations with the United States.

Larijani stated in a post on the "X" platform that Tehran would not negotiate under pressure, in response to a report indicating that Iran is trying to reopen channels of negotiation with Washington, according to Reuters.

Who is Ali Larijani?

Lariijani was born in 1957 in Najaf, Iraq, into a prominent religious family, before his family returned to Iran in the early 1960s. He belongs to the conservative camp close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Reports from the IFMAT website, a US-based research platform known for its anti-Iranian regime positions, indicate his ties to circles close to the supreme leadership.

The Strategic Agreement with China

Lariijani was previously tasked with overseeing the strategic cooperation agreement lasting 25 years between Iran and China, which was officially signed in 2021 and included frameworks for long-term economic and investment cooperation.

The Military Career of Ali Larijani

Larijani joined the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in the early years after the Iranian Revolution and participated in state institutions during the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988).

Governmental and Cultural Positions

After years of working in state institutions, Larijani served as Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance in 1992 during the presidency of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, continuing in the position until 1994.

In the same year, Khamenei appointed him head of the Iranian Broadcasting and Television Corporation, a position he held until 2004.

During that period, the presence of Iranian media directed abroad expanded, including the launch of Arabic-speaking channels.

The corporation also faced criticism from international human rights organizations that accused it of broadcasting coerced confessions of opponents, accusations denied by Iranian authorities.

Security and Sensitive Files

The late 1980s and 1990s witnessed a series of assassinations targeting Iranian opponents abroad, including Abdul Rahman Ghasemlu, who was assassinated in Vienna in 1989.

The Austrian authorities at the time issued arrest warrants for several suspects connected to Iranian institutions.

Opposition reports link some Iranian officials to those events; however, there are no international judicial rulings condemning Larijani personally for involvement in them.

The name Saeed Emami, a former official in the Ministry of Intelligence, also came to light in what later became known as the "Series of Assassinations" within Iran in the 1990s, a case that sparked wide internal controversy.

High Positions

In January 1996, Larijani became the representative of the Supreme Leader in the Supreme National Security Council. In 2005, he was appointed Secretary of the Council during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency, at which time he served as the chief negotiator on the nuclear file with the European troika.

In June 2008, he was elected Speaker of the Iranian Parliament (Islamic Consultative Assembly), a position he held until 2020, becoming one of the prominent political figures that bridged security and legislative work within the Iranian system.