Supreme Defense Council (SDC)
According to Article 110 of the 1979 Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the faqih is empowered to appoint and dismiss the chief of the Joint Staff, the commander in chief of the Pasdaran, two advisers to the Supreme Defense Council (SDC), and the commanders in chief of ground, naval, and air forces on the recommendation of the SDC. He is also authorized to supervise the activities of the SDC and to declare war and mobilize the armed forces on the recommendation of the SDC. As faqih, Khomeini, although maintaining the role of final arbiter, delegated the post of commander in chief to the president of the Republic.
The Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) is an institution founded in the course of revision of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The SNSC was established with an aim to watch over the Islamic Revolution and safeguard the IRI's national interests as well as its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
According to Article 177 of the Constitution, the responsibilities of the SNSC are as follows:
- 1. To determine the national defense/security policies within the framework of general policies laid down by the Leader.
- 2. To coordinate political, intelligence, social, cultural and economic activities in relation to general defense/security policies.
- 3. To exploit material and non-material resources of the country for facing internal and external threats.
The Supreme National Security Council has the lead on the nuclear issue. Commensurate with its responsibilities, the Supreme National Security Council established sub-committees such as defense subcommittee and national security sub-committee. The sub-committees are headed by the President or one of the members of the SNSC appointed by the President.
Limits of authorities and functions of the sub-committees are laid down by law, and their organizational structure are approved by the SNSC. Approvals of the SNSC shall be enforceable after ratification of the Leader.
The members of the SNSC consists of:
- Heads of the three Powers (Executive, Legislative and Judiciary)
- Chief of the Supreme Command Council of the Armed Forces (SCCAF)
- The official in charge of the Plan an Budget Organization (PBO)
- Two representatives nominated by the Leader
- Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of the Interior, and Minister of Information (Intelligence)
- A minister concerned with the subject, and the highest authorities of the Army and the Islamic Revolution's Guards Corps (IRGC).
In addition to specifying the duties of the commander in chief, Article 110 establishes the composition of the Supreme Defense Council (SDC) as follows: president of the country, prime minister, minister of defense, chief of the Joint Staff of the armed forces, commander in chief of the Pasdaran, and two advisers appointed by the faqih. Other senior officials may attend SDC meetings to deliberate national defense issues. In the past, the minister of foreign affairs, minister of interior, minister of the Pasdaran and his deputy, air force and navy commanders in chief, War Information Office director, and others have attended SDC meetings. The ground forces commander in chief, Colonel Seyyed-Shirazi, is a member of the SDC as a representative of the military arm for the faqih, whereas Majlis speaker Hojjatoleslam Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani is representative of the political arm for the faqih.
Iran's strategic planning and the establishment of its military and defense policies are the responsibilities of the SDC, which has representatives at operational area and field headquarters to provide political and strategic guidance to field commanders. SDC representatives may also veto military decisions. But reports in 1987 indicated that SDC orders to regional representatives have been modified to limit the heavy casualty rates caused by their inappropriate advice. Inexperienced nonmilitary religious advisers have seen their interference in purely technical matters dramatically curtailed.
The Urumiyeh reorganization proposals recognized the administrative separation of the services as part of Iran's political reality. Consequently, as of 1987 there were two chains of command below the SDC, one administrative and the other operational. To some extent this dual chain of command existed because the revolutionary government had retained a modified version of the organizational structure of the IIAF, which was modeled on the United States division of powers between the administrative functions of the service secretaries and the operational functions of the secretary of defense and chiefs of staff. In addition, the IRP leaders wanted to limit friction between the regular military and the Pasdaran. According to Speaker Hashemi-Rafsanjani, the service commanders in chief, the minister of defense, and the minister of the Pasdaran were removed from the operational chain to avoid further friction between the two groups.
On 06 July 2005 Hassan Rohani was reported to have resigned his post as secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC). Rohani had served as Iran's chief nuclear negotiator in the Islamic state's talks with the European Union since October 2003. He had been sharply criticized by the newly-elected President, hardline Tehran mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
But Council spokesman Ali Aghamohammadi later said the report was false. "Rowhani will remain in his position until President Mohammad Khatami’s term ends. After that it is up to Ahmadinejad, who has not announced any stance on Rowhani,” Aghamohammadi said. “Some people are implying that Rowhani does not want to cooperate with Ahmadinejad’s administration, but that is completely wrong.”
In mid-October 2005, Hussein Entezami succeeded Ali Aqamohammadi as the Supreme National Security Council's spokesman, and Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli was appointed as the council's secretary and deputy head. Entezami is the founder and managing director of "Jam-i Jam" newspaper, which is linked with the state broadcasting agency (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, or IRIB), and Rahmani-Fazli was the deputy head of that organization. The current Supreme National Security Council secretary, Ali Larijani, headed IRIB until he ran in the June 2005 presidential election.
Other council officials were replaced as well. Seyyed Ali Monfared, who has served in the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, the Ministry of Intelligence and Security, and the Foreign Ministry, replaced Hussein Musavian as a foreign policy adviser to Larijani. Moreover, the Supreme National Security Council has undergone structural changes since Ahmadinejad's August 2005 inauguration, and this too could enhance the executive branch's control over the nuclear portfolio.
