Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, a former commander in the Iran-Iraq war and IRGC official, is emerging as a key figure in Iran's revolutionary system. He appears to represent a new face for the country's leadership amid internal and external challenges.

In a country caught between external attacks and internal pressure, with much of its top leadership killed by its enemies, the Parliament Speaker, who cut his teeth in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and served the IRGC as a commander, emerged as the new face of the revolutionary system