Iranian Defence Council

Defence Council (SNSC; Persian: شورای دفاع Showrāye Āliye Amniyate Mellī also Defence Council for war and defence affairs) is the defence council of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The current secretary of the defence Security Council is TBD. He was appointed to position of secretary by President Masoud Pezeshkian and but its two members Ali Shamkhani and Ali Akbar Ahmadian elect by the supreme leader on 7 August 2025. The council was formed for the protection and support of Islamic revolution and territorial against war and defence aggressive actions. This institution was founded on 3 August 2025 by The Iranian supreme leader confirmation and Iranian president.

Defence Council شورای دفاع
Leadership
Chairman	President of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian since 3 August 2025
Secretary	TBD
Seats	TBD
Meeting place
Tehran, Iran

The responsibilities of the council are defined by the constitution as:

1. Determining the defense and national security policies of the country within the framework of general policies determined by the Supreme Leader.
2. Coordination of political activities, intelligence, social, cultural and economic fields relating to general policies of defense and national security.
3. Exploitation of material and intellectual resources of the country for facing the internal and external threats.

The Iranian Defence Council is a defence and military council in Iran that was established after the Iran-Israel War of 2025 as a sub-council and a subset of the Supreme National Security Council. This council was created in response to the abrupt wars and heavy damages leads to the defence and nuclear centers, and it was formed with the aim of concentrating and strengthening on defence projects.

Background

In the Iran-Iraq war, an institution called the "High Defense Council" was active, which played a role in the early years of the war, although its effectiveness was limited compared to the Supreme National Security Council. This council was gradually abandoned after the end of the war and was finally dissolved by the revision of the constitution in 1989.

After the Iran-Israel war, which resulted in severe and unexpected attacks on Iran's military, nuclear and defense centers, including the killing of a large number of commanders and scientists, the spirit of trust in the former commanders was challenged. This issue caused the government to review the security governance structure more seriously.

Purposes

According to the official announcement of the Secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, on August 3, 2025, the establishment of the "Defence Council" was approved based on Article 176 of the Constitution.

The head of this council will be the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian; And its members including the heads of forces, senior commanders of the armed forces, two representatives of the supreme leader in the Supreme National Security Council, the Minister of Information and related ministries such as the Ministry of Defence and Foreign Affairs are also present.

The formation of the "Defence Council", as a capacity considered in the law on the establishment of the Supreme National Security Council (Article 176 of the Constitution), also after about 36 years, pursues important purposes, such as:

Supporting the all-round strengthening of the country's defence capability Synergy of military and security structures in order to improve defence preparations Speed of action in decisions related to the country's defence Promoting synergy between military and political centers to effectively respond to existing threats Centralized management of defence plans Improving the necessary preparations to manage new threats these actions are carried out in line with the "coherence of the decision-making body under the supervision of the Commander-in-Chief in the event of the next possible wars".

Reactions

Reactions The media close to the government (such as Fars and Tasnim) have introduced the formation of the Defense Council as part of the reorganization of defense governance and mentioned its goals as increasing the speed of decision-making in the face of threats and centralizing the command.

Analysts such as Murad Vaisi say with a critical view: "The establishment of the Defense Council is not to defend the people and the country, it is to defend the system and prevent its fall", and they consider this institution as a response to the reduction of the leadership's trust in the military commanders after the surprise.