Ahmad Vahidi Emerges as Key Hardliner Behind Iran’s Missile Strike on Israel

Iran’s decision to fire ballistic missiles at Israel after the latest strike in Beirut’s Dahieh district, the first such attack in months, highlighted the influence of Ahmad Vahidi, one of the Islamic Republic’s most powerful figures. According to Iranian and Arab sources cited by The Wall Street Journal, Vahidi, the top commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, pushed for a harsh response to stop Israeli attacks on Hezbollah in Beirut, while more moderate officials wanted to delay any strike out of concern it could jeopardize a possible deal with the United States that might stabilize Iran’s economy.

Vahidi prevailed, persuading Iran’s Supreme National Security Council to back the attack and triggering the first direct exchange of fire between Iran and Israel since the April 8 ceasefire. Sources said he has become a central power broker in Tehran and is pressing a hard line in talks with Washington. On Saturday, President Donald Trump and mediators signaled that a preliminary agreement with Tehran could be reached as soon as Sunday, but Iran later rejected that timing. Mediators said they were close to an arrangement that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and remove the American blockade, while leaving harder issues, including Iran’s nuclear program and the release of frozen assets abroad, for later.

Trump said Thursday the sides were close enough to cancel further strikes, but Iran said no draft agreement had been signed. Vahidi, 67, is under U.S. sanctions for helping oversee the crackdown on women’s rights protests in 2022 and is wanted by Interpol for a deadly attack on Jews in Argentina in the 1990s. He insists Iran must restore military deterrence to strengthen its position at the negotiating table. As head of the IRGC, he now shapes Iran’s approach to ending the war, according to mediators.

During the conflict, Vahidi has repeatedly overridden Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and President Masoud Pezeshkian, who favored a quick interim deal with Washington to avoid economic collapse under pressure from U.S. sanctions on Iran’s oil industry. Vahidi instead prioritized restoring deterrence and defending Hezbollah. He linked the Lebanon fighting to the war in Iran, tied any U.S. deal to an end to the Hezbollah-Israel conflict, and pressed negotiators to protect Iran’s missile stockpiles and secure access to frozen funds, arguing that the money should not be barred from military spending.

Argentina, through Interpol, issued an arrest warrant for Vahidi in 2007, accusing him of helping plan the 1994 bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people and wounded hundreds. Iran has repeatedly denied any Iranian involvement. Vahidi has served as defense minister, interior minister, and deputy commander of the IRGC, and as defense minister in 2009 he played a key role in procurement for Iran’s missile, drone, and nuclear programs, prompting U.S. sanctions the following year.