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Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Ghalibaf in 2024 | |
| Native name | محمدباقر قالیباف |
| Allegiance | Iran |
| Branch | Revolutionary Guards |
| Years of service | 1981–2005 |
| Rank | Brigadier general |
| Commands | |
| Battles / wars | |
| Awards |
|
| 6thSpeaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly | |
| Assumed office 28 May 2020 | |
| Deputy | |
| Preceded by | Ali Larijani |
| Member of the Parliament of Iran | |
| Assumed office 27 May 2024 | |
| Constituency | Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat, Eslamshahr and Pardis |
| Majority | 447,905 (28.53%) |
| In office 27 May 2020 – 26 May 2024 | |
| Constituency | Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat, Eslamshahr and Pardis |
| Majority | 1,265,287 (68.69%) |
| Member ofExpediency Discernment Council | |
| In office 14 August 2017 – 28 May 2020 | |
| Appointed by | Ali Khamenei |
| Chairman | |
| Succeeded by | Ali Larijani |
| 43rdMayor of Tehran | |
| In office 14 September 2005[1] – 27 August 2017 | |
| Deputy | Issa Sharifi[2] |
| Preceded by | Mahmoud Ahmadinejad |
| Succeeded by | Mohammad-Ali Najafi |
| Head of the Central Headquarters for Combating Goods and Currency Smuggling | |
| In office 8 June 2004 – 1 September 2005 | |
| President | Mohammad Khatami |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Mohammad Reza Naqdi |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1961-08-23)23 August 1961 (age 64) |
| Political party | Progress and Justice Population of Islamic Iran (Spiritual leader)[4] |
| Other political affiliations | |
| Height | 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Elias, Eshaq, Maryam[5] |
| Alma mater | |
| Religion | Shia Islam |
| Signature |  |
| Website | Official website |
| Part ofa series on |
| Conservatism in Iran |
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Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf (Persian:محمدباقر قالیباف, born 23 August 1961) is an Iranianconservative politician, formermilitary officer, and currentSpeaker of theParliament of Iran since 2020. He held office as theMayor of Tehran from 2005 to 2017. Ghalibaf was formerly Iran'sChief of police from 2000 to 2005 and commander of theAerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from 1997 to 2000.
He holds a Ph.D. in political geography fromTarbiat Modares University. He is also a pilot, certified to fly certain Airbus aircraft. He began his military career during theIran–Iraq War in 1980. He became chief commander of the Imam Reza Brigade in 1982 and was chief commander of Nasr Division from 1983 to 1984. After the war, he became Managing-Director ofKhatam al-Anbia, an engineering firm controlled by theIslamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and was appointed commander of theIRGC Air Force in 1996 byAli Khamenei. Four years later, he became chief of theIranian Police Forces after the previous commander was dismissed following the1999 student protests. He was also appointed Representative ofPresidentMohammad Khatami during a campaign to combat smuggling in 2002. In September 2005, he was elected asTehran's mayor by theCity Council of Tehran. He is also a professor at theUniversity of Tehran.[6]
Ghalibaf is often regarded aperennial candidate in the presidential elections.[7] He was a candidate in the2013 presidential election but lost toHassan Rouhani, in second place with 17% (6,077,292) of the votes. He was also a candidate in the2005 presidential election, coming in fourth with 14% of the vote. He announced his run for a third time in the2017 election. However, he withdrew on 15 May 2017 in favor ofEbrahim Raisi's candidacy. He was a candidate in the2024 presidential election, coming in third with 14% of the vote.
In the2020 Iranian legislative election, the Principlists regained the majority in the legislature,[8] and Ghalibaf was elected as the new Speaker of Iran Parliament.[9] He successfullyescaped an assassination attempt on his life in 2025.
Ghalibaf was born on 23 August 1961 inTorqabeh,[10] nearMashhad, in the province ofRazavi Khorasan,[11] to aKurdish father Hossein Ghalibaf and aPersian mother Kheirolnessa Boujmehrani.[11][12]
Ghalibaf married Zahra Sadat Moshir in 1982 when he was twenty two years old. Moshir (born 1968) joined her husband as an adviser and head of women's affairs in theMunicipality of Tehran.[13][14]
Ghalibaf obtainedbachelor inhuman geography fromTehran University,master in human geography fromIslamic Azad University andPhD inpolitical geography fromTarbiat Modares University.[15]
At the age of 19, he was one of the commanders of the defense forces during theIran–Iraq War. Shortly afterwards he was named commander of the Rasulollah division. By the time he was twenty-two, he was already commander of the Nasr Troops. After the war he was selected as Deputy Commander of the Resistance Force andBasij Troops under General Afshar. Ghalibaf received the degree of Major General in 1996 after he had completed a master's degree ingeopolitics. In 1998, whenMohsen Rezaee retired andYahya Rahim Safavi took over as IRGC's new commander-in-chief, he was named Commander ofAerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Ghalibaf became one of the senior commanders of theIslamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in later years.[16] In 1984, he was appointed head of theKhatam-al Anbiya Construction Headquarters, which is the engineering arm of the IRGC. Under his management, the headquarters launched a 165-kilometer railway connecting Mashhad to Sarakhs.[citation needed]
As commander of the Revolutionary Guards Air Force during the1999 student protests, Ghalibaf was one of the 24 IRGC commanders who sent a threatening letter to the reformist presidentMohammad Khatami stating that if the protests were allowed to continue, they would take matters into their own hands.[16]
Following the 1999 protests, he was appointed chief of the Iranian Police Forces by theSupreme Leader of Iran,Ali Khamenei, to succeed GeneralHedayat Lotfian who was removed from his office during the violence. After becoming chief of police, Ghalibaf initiated some reforms in the forces, including dropping all lawsuits against newspapers, modernization of police equipment and thePolice 110 project, which aimed to make the police more accessible to the general public.[3]
On 5 April 2005, Ghalibaf submitted his resignation from the military positions (including the police forces) due to his intention to run for the presidency of Iran.
When Ghalibaf lost the 2005 election, he was proposed asMayor of Tehran along withMohammad Aliabadi andMohammad-Ali Najafi. On 4 September 2005, he was elected as the next Mayor by theCity Council of Tehran to succeedMahmoud Ahmadinejad who left the office after being elected president.[16] He received 8 out of 15 votes of the council. He was reelected for a second term on 2007 after receiving 12 votes with no opponent.
According toBloomberg, he has used his position as mayor "to foster a reputation as a politician who gets things done."[17] Ghalibaf sought reelection as Mayor of Tehran as the Conservative's choice in the2013 local elections. His rivals wereMohsen Hashemi Rafsanjani,Masoumeh Ebtekar,Ali Nikzad andMohsen Mehralizadeh. He was elected as Mayor for another term on 8 September 2013 after defeating Hashemi in arunoff with 51.6% of the votes.[18][19]
Ghalibaf, who commanded the5th Nasr Division and then the elite25th Karbala Division of the IRGC in theIran-Iraq War, developed a long friendship with the then up-and-coming commander of the41st Tharallah Division, GeneralQasem Soleimani. In the words of Arash Azizi:
During the war years, the commanders who had distinguished themselves most, had a regional base and a talent for organizing the men of their provinces for the national war effort. Three such men became close comrades and helped build a web of influence that strengthened their respective positions: Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf,Ahmad Kazemi, and Qassem Soleimani. When the war ended, they were respectively 27, 29, and 32 years old. They had respectively led IRGC divisions inKhorasan,Isfahan, andKerman provinces, three of the biggest territorial units in the country which together accounted for much of the country’s population.[20]
In the2013 Iranian presidential election Soleimani reportedly voted for Qalibaf, who represented IRGC veterans' interests, against moderate candidateHassan Rouhani, who eventually won.[20]
Ghalibaf was a candidate in theIranian presidential election of 2005,[21] and was being considered to be supported by some factions of the conservative alliance because of his popularity with both wings. However, in the final days before the election, the major support went toMahmoud Ahmadinejad. Ghalibaf came fourth in the election.[21] He made apopulist appeal during the campaigns.[22]
On 13 October 2008, he announced his support for dialogue with the United States as suggested by then-presidential candidateBarack Obama. According to Ghalibaf, "the world community, the Iranian society and the US society would benefit" from such talks.[23]
Ghalibaf did not run for presidency inthe elections in 2009.[21] His adviser announced that he would take part inthe presidential elections in June 2013 and he officially announced this on 16 July 2012.[21] In his speech during the announcement of his candidacy, he said:
“That's two things I still stand on and would seriously consider, first: the Constitution and second: respect the prisoners and detainees."
He also setLove and Sacrifice andJihadi Change as his official slogans. His candidacy was approved by theGuardian Council on 21 May 2013 along with seven other candidates. He was one of the opponents ofAkbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's candidacy and says it was better that Rafsanjani not enter the race, as he had served two terms before. He and two other candidates,Ali Akbar Velayati andGholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, formed a coalition called "2+1". He was endorsed by former candidates,Alireza Ali Ahmadi andSadeq Vaeez Zadeh.Ali Larijani, the current chairman of parliament, also supported Ghalibaf in the election.
According to the Guardian, his moderating streak as Tehran's mayor is evident throughout Ghalibaf's political efforts.[24] Ghalibaf received 6,077,292 votes (16.55%), putting him in second place behind winnerHassan Rouhani, who was elected as the new president.[25] Hours after the announcement of the results, Ghalibaf published a statement congratulatingHassan Rouhani on his election asPresident of Iran and conceding.
Ghalibaf's candidacy for the2024 Iranian presidential election was approved by the guardian council in June 2024.[26]
Senior IRGC commanders, including Major GeneralMohsen Rezaee, Rear AdmiralAli Shamkhani and Brigadier GeneralHossein Dehghan supported Ghalibaf's presidential bid.[27]
| Year | Election | Votes | % | Rank | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | President | 4,095,827 | 13.93 | 4th | Lost |
| 2013 | President |  6,077,292 | 16.56 | 2nd | Lost |
| 2017 | President | – | Withdrew | ||
| 2020 | Parliament | 1,265,287 | 68.69 | 1st | Won |
| 2024 | Parliament |  447,905 | 28.53 | 4th | Won |
| 2024 | President | 3,383,340 | 13.79 | 3rd | Lost |
Ghalibaf is regarded as the spiritual leader behindProgress and Justice Population of Islamic Iran[4] and Iranian Islamic Freedom Party.[28] He is a member of the political alliancePopular Front of Islamic Revolution Forces.[29]
Ghalibaf has been accused of using his influence as a formerIRGC commander to cover up corruption scandals that took place in Tehran during his term as mayor. One such scandal, which took place in 2017, involved the Yas Holding Company, a company whose board is partially made up ofIRGC generals. The company was accused of embezzling an estimated 13 trilliontomans (US$3 billion) from Tehran Municipality for overpriced infrastructure projects built by construction companies linked to the IRGC during Ghalibaf's mayorship.[30] In early 2022, a leaked audio recording was published byRadio Farda, which purported to show formerIRGC Major GeneralMohammad Ali Jafari and Brigadier General Sadegh Zolghadr-Nia discussing the Yas Holding Company case, mentioning Ghalibaf's efforts to cover up the scandal by using his connections to theIRGC, by enlisting the support ofHossein Taeb, the head of theIRGC'sIntelligence Organization.[31][32][33]
In April 2022, photos were published on Twitter that showed Ghalibaf's wife, Zahra Sadat Moshirand, and members of Ghalibaf's family atTehran Imam Khomeini International Airport, returning from a luxury shopping trip in Turkey with 20 pieces of luggage, which were said to be alayette for their newborn child.[34] The scandal, dubbedLayetteGate orSismuniGate by Iranian Twitter users, led to calls for him to step down as speaker of Parliament, with critics accusing Ghalibaf of being out of touch for his family shopping overseas during an economic crisis,[35] and hypocrisy, pointing to comments made during his 2017 presidential campaign, where he criticized a former minister for traveling to Italy to purchase baby clothes.[36][37] The criticism of Ghalibaf's family escalated when further allegations were made by an Iranian journalist based in Turkey that Ghalibaf's wife, daughter and son-in-law had purchased two luxury apartments in Istanbul worth 400 billionrials (US$1.6 million).[38][39]
Another scandal concerned Ghalibaf's son, Eshagh Ghalibaf, who had made "repeated enquiries" to obtain Canadian permanent residency. When this came to light Iranians joined a petition asking the Canadian government not to grant the younger Ghalibaf a visa.[40] There are reports that his son claimed to have $150,000 in funds available to support his application.[41] In February 2024, Canadian Minister of Immigration, Refugees and CitizenshipMarc Miller wrote on X: "On Feb. 6th, the permanent residency application of Eshagh Ghalibaf, the son of Iran’s Speaker of Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, was refused. The Iranian regime has engaged in acts of terrorism and systemic human rights violations. We stand with the people of Iran."[40]
All these scandals however, did not stop Ghalibaf running for parliamentary election in 2024 and staying as speaker of the house in Islamic Republic's parliament.
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Morteza Ghorbani | Commander of the 5th Nasr Division 1983–1987 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Morteza Ghorbani | Commander of the25th Karbala Division 1988–1994 | Succeeded by Unknown |
| Preceded by Mohammad Vafayi | Commander of the Khatam-al Anbiya Construction Headquarters 1994–1997 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Commander of the Revolutionary Guards Air Force 1997–2000 | Succeeded by |
| Police appointments | ||
| Preceded by | Commander of the Law Enforcement Force 2000–2005 | Succeeded by Ali Abdollahi Acting |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded byasMinister of Interior | Commissioner of thePresident of Iran Head of the Headquarters for Fighting the Smuggling of Goods and Currency 2004–2005 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Ali Saeedlou Acting | Mayor of Tehran 2005–2017 | Succeeded by Mostafa Salimi Acting |
| Assembly seats | ||
| Preceded by | Speaker of Parliament of Iran 2020–present | Incumbent |
| Commander-in-Chief |
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| Chief ofJoint Staff | ||
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| Aerospace Force | ||
| Navy | ||
| Quds Force | ||
| Mobilization Force | ||
| Intelligence | ||
| Intelligence Protection |
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| Supreme Leader Representative | ||
| Ministers |
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Commanders ofLaw Enforcement Force of Islamic Republic of Iran | |||
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