Former Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan speaks with a photo of assassinated Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani in the background (Getty)

In a step signaling the increased influence of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in Iran’s politics, former Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehghan — Defense Minister in the Rouhani Government from 2013-2017 and now military advisor to the Supreme Leader — is running for the Presidency in the June 2021 election.

Dehghan announced this week that he is standing in the contest. He has been sanctioned by the Trump Administration over his links to Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

The founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, called for the Revolutionary Guards to stay out of politics. However, the elite military branch has steadily increased its stake in Iran’s economy, controlling many businesses and Iran’s infrastructure projects, and has become more outspoken over political matters.

As Iran’s economy sank into crisis, Guards commander Mohammad Ali Jafari and President Hassan Rouhani sparred over corruption, the Guards’ economic holdings, the falling currency, and even the Government’s handling of floods in March 2019.

See Iran Daily, March 27: Revolutionary Guards Blame Iranians for Electing Rouhani

The Guards had several Presidential possibilities, including Parviz Fattah, head of the Supreme Leader’s charity, the Mostazafan Foundation, and Saeed Mohammad, head of the IRGC’s construction and engineering branch Khatam al-Anbia.

But in recent months, it is Dehghan who has been meeting with key regime figures. The discussions reportedly include Parliament Speaker and former Presidential candidate Mohmmad Baqer Qalibaf and Secretary of the Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei — both former Guards commanders — and Adm. Ali Shamkani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.

A participant in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Dehghan joined the IRGC in 1980 and rose to become commander of the air force between 1990 and 1992.

He has disowned affiliation with any political faction while tying himself closely to the Supreme Leader. During the disputed 2009 Presidential election, Dehghan told the leading candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi to accept the “victory” of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, “even if [Mousavi was] absolutely right” about election fraud because it was the Supreme Leader’s will.

Dehghan is a former general manager of the IRGC’s investment arm, Bonyad-e Taavon-e Sepah, giving him the expertise to pursue the Supreme Leader’s ambition of a self-sufficient “resistance economy”. His links with Hezbollah have taken on added importance amid regional tension and the US assassination of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the IRGC’s Qods Force, in January.

See also EA on BBC, Radio FM4, Monocle 24, and talkRADIO: How Is Iran Responding to Assassination of Gen. Soleimani?