Mourad Vaisi, a senior analyst at Iran International, said that Hossein Taeb’s return to the formal power structure, despite the intelligence failures during his term in office, is above all based on his loyalty to Mojtaba Khamenei. He added that Taeb has been among the closest figures to Mojtaba Khamenei and has played a pivotal role in the process of consolidating his leadership.

Vaisi said the leadership of the Basij is now of special importance for the Islamic Republic, because the government considers the main threat to be popular protests and the Basij is positioned at the front line of repression. He added that Mojtaba Khamenei also wants to organize and control the forces supporting the government under the supervision of one of his closest associates.