US President Donald Trump said on Monday that talks with Iran were taking place, raising hopes for a possible agreement to end the war. US media reported that Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey had mediated between Washington and Tehran and tried to arrange a phone call with Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, speaker of Iran’s parliament, and his team. Iranian leaders denied the reports; Qalibaf called them “fake news,” saying they were intended to manipulate financial and oil markets. The Wall Street Journal reported that thousands of US Marines would be deployed to the Middle East to secure the Strait of Hormuz.
From revolutionary guard to powerful politician
Qalibaf, 64, is a former commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and a trained pilot. He holds a doctorate in political geography; his dissertation examined the links between space, power, the state and security policy. He fought in the Iran–Iraq war (1980–1988) and rose through IRGC ranks. After the war he led Khatam al-Anbiya, the IRGC’s engineering arm responsible for reconstruction and now a major economic conglomerate with numerous subsidiaries and contractors.
In 1997, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appointed Qalibaf commander of the IRGC air force. He was involved in suppressing the 1999 student protests; alongside Qassem Soleimani, he signed a warning to then-president Mohammad Khatami and later said in interviews that he had beaten demonstrators while riding a motorcycle. In 2000 he became Iran’s police chief.
Ambitious politically, Qalibaf ran for president three times. He lost to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005 and then became mayor of Tehran, serving from 2005 to 2017. He ran again in 2013 but lost to Hassan Rouhani, and in 2017 withdrew to back another conservative candidate. More recently he has been speaker of parliament.
Ongoing corruption allegations, controversy
Journalists have reported that during Qalibaf’s time as Tehran mayor, many state-owned properties were sold for well below market value, sometimes about half their true worth, with buyers including officials and members of Qalibaf’s family. He is also accused of transferring large sums from the city treasury to his wife’s foundation, which supports single mothers and women heading households; the foundation’s finances are opaque. These allegations were never thoroughly investigated, critics say, in part because of Qalibaf’s closeness to Khamenei, and reporters who covered the issue faced imprisonment.
His family has been the subject of public scrutiny: his son Eshaq sought permanent residency in Canada and sued Canadian authorities over processing delays; the application was ultimately denied. In 2022, photos of Qalibaf’s daughter returning from Turkey with “newborn baby kits” provoked criticism amid Iran’s economic crisis and high inflation.
Qalibaf remains influential within the IRGC and Iranian politics. Unlike several other senior officials, he has so far survived US and Israeli strikes on Iran, a fact that has prompted speculation about his potential future role.
This article was originally published in German.