‘A top person’: Who is Donald Trump dealing with in Iran?

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PARIS – He is, according to US President Donald Trump, a “top person” in the Iranian system who is “most respected” and is in an unenviable position.

But who is the senior figure talking with the United States on the future of Iran after over three weeks of the Israeli-US war against the Islamic republic?

The individual, said Mr Trump, is not supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei who succeeded his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed at the start of the war on Feb 28.

After the killing of national security chief Ali Larijani in an Israeli strike last week, attention has focused on Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who has survived the war so far.

But Mr Trump gave no names, saying: “I don’t want him to be killed.”

Here are five possible figures.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf

Mr Ghalibaf has been pinpointed by several analysts as the de facto wartime leader of Iran following the killings of Mr Khamenei and Mr Larijani and the failure of Mr Mojtaba Khamenei to make any public appearance.

During three decades at the centre of the Iranian system, he has held posts straddling civilian and military life, as commander of the aerospace forces of the Revolutionary Guards, Tehran police chief, Tehran mayor and now Parliament speaker.

Regarded as deeply ambitious, he stood for president on three occasions but was never successful.

After a report in Israeli media said he was the interlocutor of the US, he posted on X that “no negotiations have been held with the US” and denounced “fake news”.

President Masoud Pezeshkian

President since 2024 after an election held following the death of former president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, Mr Pezeshkian is seen as belonging to the more moderate wing of politics in the Islamic republic.

However, his position as president in no way makes him Iran’s No. 1, with the supreme leader having the final say on all key matters, although how the power structures work in the post-Ali Khamenei era remains unclear.

Seeking to promote himself as an ordinary man of the people, Mr Pezeshkian took to the streets earlier in March for a mass pro-government rally in favour of the Palestinian cause, taking selfies with well-wishers.

Mr Larijani also took part in the same event, only to be killed days later.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi

A veteran diplomat, Mr Araqchi has held the post since 2024 following the death of former foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian in the same helicopter crash that killed Mr Raisi.

He acted as Iran’s representative in talks in February with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Oman that were mediated by the Gulf sultanate and failed to stop the march to war.

The New York Times said on March 24, citing US and Iranian officials, that Mr Araqchi and Mr Witkoff had “direct communication” in recent days that, according to Iranian officials, amounted to “essentially probes on how to de-escalate the conflict”.

Mr Araqchi, who holds a doctorate in political thought from the University of Kent in England, has vigorously defended Iran’s position in TV interviews, including with American media. But his position as foreign minister seems unlikely to equate to that of a “top person”.

Revolutionary Guards commander-in-chief Ahmad Vahidi

A former interior and defence minister, Brigadier-General Vahidi is the third commander-in-chief of Iran’s ideological army in less than a year after his predecessor, Major-General Mohammad Pakpour, was killed on the first day of the war, and Major-General Hossein Salami was killed during Israel’s 12-day war against Iran in June 2025.

Possibly for this reason, Brig-Gen Vahidi has kept a very low profile in this war, making no public appearance.

Only one statement has been issued in his name as commander on March 19, expressing his condolences for the killing of the commander of the Guards’ Basij militia, Brigadier-General Gholamreza Soleimani, in an air strike.

Quds force commander Esmail Ghaani

An extremely shadowy figure, Brigadier-General Ghaani became commander of the force responsible for the external operations of the Revolutionary Guards after the killing of Major-General Qassem Soleimani in a US strike in Iraq in 2020.

Brig-Gen Ghaani was reportedly killed in the June 2025 war but then later re-emerged in public.

Intense speculation has since surrounded his whereabouts and standing, amid reports he has come under pressure due to alleged intelligence lapses, including the 2024 killing in Lebanon by Israel of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

On March 20, Iranian state media issued the first, and so far only, message in Brig-Gen Ghaani’s name of the war, predicting that Iran would “soon witness the shameful defeat” of its enemies in the war. AFP