New Delhi, Aug. 10 -- The man now overseeing Iran's most sensitive security decisions spent sixteen years building the Revolutionary Guard into the force that has shaped every major confrontation Tehran has fought since. On Sunday, Mohsen Rezaei, 71, was named secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council - the body that coordinates the country's military, intelligence, and diplomatic posture under the Supreme Leader's authority.

an attack that reshaped both the council's vacancy and Iran's calculus about whether to negotiate at all.

The choice of Rezaei signals that Pezeshkian's government intends to project force from its top security post rather than soft-pedal it. As IRGC commander-in-chief from 1981 to 1997, Rezaei presided...