TEHRAN, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian has appointed Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr as the new secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC).

Photo: shisu.edu.cn

The announcement was made on Tuesday by Seyyed Mehdi Tabatabaei, deputy for communications at the Iranian president's office, in a post on social media platform X.

Tabatabaei said the appointment was made with the consent of Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

Former SNSC Secretary Ali Larijani was killed in an Israeli attack on March 17.

A former commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, Zolghadr was serving as secretary of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council prior to his appointment.

He also served as deputy judiciary chief for strategic affairs between 2012 and 2020.

On Feb. 28, Israel and the United States launched joint attacks on Tehran and several other Iranian cities, killing Iran's then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, along with senior military commanders and civilians. Iran responded by launching waves of missile and drone strikes targeting Israel and U.S. bases and assets in the Middle East.