Proposed Minister of Interior; Who is Iskandar Momeni and What is His Background?

Iskandar Momeni, an individual with extensive backgrounds in Iran's military and police forces, has been introduced as the proposed Minister of Interior by Masoud Pezeshkian to the Islamic Consultative Assembly. Momeni, born in 1962 in Qaem Shahr, entered military fields from a young age and has traversed a tumultuous path from membership in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to key roles in the police force. He holds a PhD in National Security and is a faculty member at the University of Police Sciences. After the 1979 revolution, he joined the IRGC and played an active role during the Iran-Iraq War as the commander of the 'Ya Zahra' battalions and the head of the staff of the 25th Karbala Division in Mazandaran province. This division was one of the important units of the IRGC formed with forces from Gilan and Mazandaran. He also held the position of head of the Malik Ashtar Brigade staff. After the war, Momeni was transferred to the police force. The appointment of Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf as the commander of the Islamic Republic's police in 2000 led to Momeni's rise in this branch of Iran's armed forces. From 2001 to 2003, before the division of Khorasan into three provinces, he was the police commander of Khorasan province. He then became the head of the Police Emergency Center 110 in 2004 and reached the position of Deputy Operations of the police force in 2005. These responsibilities were a prelude to his national presence in the police force, which lasted until 2018. During this time, he served as the commander of traffic police and then as the deputy commander of the police force, receiving the third-degree service medal from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2012. Since 2018, during the presidency of Hassan Rouhani and now under Ibrahim Raisi, he has been active as an advisor to the president and secretary of the Drug Control Headquarters. Iskandar Momeni is also known for his extensive background in managing and suppressing anti-government protests. During the protests in December 2017, he was the deputy commander of the national police and described these protests as 'disturbances created by enemies,' defending his forces' actions against the protesters. He refers to major recent protests, including the November 2019 protests and the 'Women, Life, Freedom' protests in 2022, as 'rebellions' and 'disturbances,' repeatedly emphasizing the importance of a firm response to protesters and defending the special units of the police as the 'final blow' of this force. In 2018, Momeni described the failure to adhere to mandatory hijab as a 'visible crime' and emphasized that all police forces, including traffic police and preventive police, are obliged to enforce mandatory hijab and deal with violators. His proposal for the Ministry of Interior, being close to the leadership and Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, has faced numerous criticisms from supporters of Masoud Pezeshkian. The Tehran-based newspaper Etemad, in an article published on Tuesday, August 14, referred to the selection of Iskandar Momeni as the proposed Minister of Interior as one of the reasons for Mohammad Javad Zarif's resignation from cooperation with Masoud Pezeshkian's government. Etemad also noted that it was expected that the initial cabinet composition would be introduced based on the criteria that Pezeshkian mentioned during his presidential campaign, and if the individuals were not part of the president's advisory team, the costs should have been assigned to the parliament and its conservative representatives. The Islamic Consultative Assembly is set to begin reviewing the qualifications of the proposed ministers of the fourteenth government starting from August 18.