Paul Smith

Investigative illustration of Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Tehran Municipality, the IRGC finance network and the missing municipal ledger.

The Ghalibaf IRGC Finance Network: Tehran Municipality, Yas and the Missing Ledger

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Introduction: The Ledger Behind the Network The Yas corruption case exposed only part of a much larger financial system built inside Tehran City Hall during Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf’s mayoralty. From 2009 onwards, Tehran Municipality committed public property, development rights, municipal revenues and other city assets to financing arrangements with the IRGC Cooperative Foundation. IranSTO refers

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Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf from police command to managerial repression

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf: From Police Command to Managerial Repression

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Introduction: The Security Logic That Survived Command   On 7 January 2026, one day before the principal lethal escalation of the nationwide uprising, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf chaired a closed parliamentary session in Tehran. Ahmad-Reza Radan, commander of FARAJA, the regime’s national Law Enforcement Command, and a deputy intelligence minister briefed MPs on the security and

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Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and the survivor network in the post-Khamenei power architecture

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf: The Survivor Network in the Post-Khamenei Power Architecture

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Introduction: The Man Who Survived the System   Any serious attempt to map the Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf power network has to begin with a problem that conventional factional analysis cannot explain. There is no formal organisation carrying his name, no stable military bloc publicly answerable to him and no evidence that the senior commanders, security

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Supreme National Security Council and the architecture of security power in the Islamic Republic

Inside the Supreme National Security Council: The Architecture of Security Power

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Introduction: The Institution Between the Leader and the State   The Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) serves as the point where the Islamic Republic translates supreme authority into coordinated state action. It brings the presidency, parliament, the judiciary, security ministries, senior military commanders and two representatives of the Supreme Leader into the same constitutional structure.

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Mojtaba Khamenei Supreme Leader and the architecture of power inside the Islamic Republic

The Absent Supreme Leader: The Architecture of Power Under Mojtaba Khamenei

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Introduction: The Leadership Changed. The Machinery Did Not Stop.   On 8 March 2026, Mojtaba Khamenei became Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, formally placing him at the apex of a political system whose constitution concentrates extraordinary military, political and institutional authority in the office of the Leader. For years, the central question surrounding Ali

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Mojtaba Khamenei and the architecture of connective authority

Mojtaba Khamenei and the Architecture of Connective Authority

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Introduction — The Authority the State Never Defined For more than two decades, Mojtaba Khamenei appeared repeatedly at the edges of the Islamic Republic’s most consequential political and security decisions. His name surfaced in accounts of electoral intervention, relations with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the management of political crises and the increasingly restricted circle

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Vahid Haghanian and the executive architecture of the Office of the Supreme Leader

The Invisible Executive: Vahid Haghanian and the Executive Architecture of the Office of the Supreme Leader

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Introduction Vahid Haghanian’s role within the executive architecture of the Office of the Supreme Leader cannot be understood through biography alone. His significance lies not in the offices he formally occupied, but in the executive functions he performed inside one of the Islamic Republic’s most opaque institutions. Every political system relies upon an institutional mechanism

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Ali Asghar Hejazi and the hidden security architecture of the Office of the Supreme Leader

The Security Gatekeeper: Ali Asghar Hejazi and the Hidden Security Architecture of the Office of the Supreme Leader

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Introduction   The Security Architecture of the Office of the Supreme Leader has received remarkably little scholarly attention despite occupying one of the most strategically important positions within the political system of the Islamic Republic. Political systems are usually analysed through the people who stand in front of them. Presidents deliver speeches, ministers announce policy,

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Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani and the Office of the Supreme Leader in IranSTO Regime Atlas

The Administrative Gatekeeper: Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani and the Administrative Architecture of the Office of the Supreme Leader

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Introduction Power is commonly understood through those who exercise it in public. Presidents deliver speeches, ministers announce policy, military commanders appear before the media and heads of state dominate political headlines. They become the recognised face of government, shaping both domestic narratives and international perceptions. Yet the visible exercise of authority should not be confused

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The Transition Veto concept illustrating Iran political transition blocked by international policy, featuring a veto-stamped transition dossier and a fractured map of Iran.

The Transition Veto

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How Foreign Governments Keep Iran’s Political Future in Permanent Suspension   Introduction The Transition Veto describes a recurring pattern in international policy towards Iran. If January 2026 did not fundamentally change the way foreign governments approached the Islamic Republic, it is reasonable to ask what possibly could. That question lies at the heart of this

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