Power in Tehran may be shifting — but not in the way the outside world expected.
Iran’s elite military force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, is reportedly tightening its grip on the country’s political system, sidelining civilian leadership and raising fresh doubts about who truly holds authority inside the regime.
According to a report from Iran International, the Guard has blocked key appointments by President Masoud Pezeshkian and established what sources described as a security perimeter around Mojtaba Khamenei, a powerful figure increasingly seen as central to Iran’s internal power structure.
The implications are significant.
If accurate, the moves suggest the IRGC is not just influencing policy, it’s increasingly running the show.
“The IRGC effectively has assumed control over key state functions,” the report claimed, describing a deepening standoff between the civilian government and military leadership.
That tension has pushed Pezeshkian into what sources called a “complete political deadlock,” with his authority constrained at nearly every turn.
One flashpoint: a failed attempt to appoint a new intelligence minister.
Sources say Ahmad Vahidi intervened directly, rejecting multiple candidates and insisting that, under what he described as wartime conditions, critical positions must be controlled by the Guard.
The message was unmistakable.
Civilian leadership answers to the security state — not the other way around.
Analysts say this isn’t a sudden coup, but the culmination of a long-running trend.
“It was always a matter of when, not if,” said Behnam Ben Taleblu of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, pointing to decades of expanding IRGC influence.
Still, the optics matter — especially now.
With U.S.-Iran negotiations already on shaky ground, a more dominant IRGC could complicate diplomacy even further, hardening Tehran’s posture and reducing the likelihood of compromise.
A regime increasingly driven by its military wing may be less interested in talks, and more willing to escalate.
Lisa Daftari, a foreign policy analyst, put it bluntly: the rise of figures like Vahidi signals that “Tehran’s war machine now calls the shots.”
That raises a fundamental question for Washington and its allies. If Iran’s elected officials no longer hold real power, who exactly is negotiating — and who can actually make a deal stick?
More over at Fox News:
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard sidelines president as military grip expands https://t.co/2U5wKdgkyq #FoxNews
— Bo Snerdley (@BoSnerdley) April 21, 2026
