Sardar Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf
Ghalibaf in 2025
6th Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office 28 May 2020
Deputy	First Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Ali Nikzad Abdolreza Mesri Hamid-Reza Haji Babaee Second Ali Nikzad Abdolreza Mesri Mojtaba Zonnour Ali Nikzad
Preceded by	Ali Larijani
Member of the Parliament of Iran
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 May 2024
Constituency	Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat, Eslamshahr and Pardis
Majority	447,905 (28.53%)
In office 27 May 2020 – 26 May 2024
Constituency	Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat, Eslamshahr and Pardis
Member of Expediency Discernment Council
In office 14 August 2017 – 28 May 2020
Appointed by	Ali Khamenei
Chairman	Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi Sadeq Larijani
Succeeded by	Ali Larijani
43rd Mayor of Tehran
In office 14 September 2005[1] – 27 August 2017
Deputy	Issa Sharifi[2]
Preceded by	Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Succeeded by	Mohammad-Ali Najafi
Head of the Central Headquarters for Combating Goods and Currency Smuggling
In office 8 June 2004 – 1 September 2005
President	Mohammad Khatami
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Mohammad Reza Naqdi
Personal details
Born	(1961-08-23) 23 August 1961 (age 64) Torqabeh, Iran[3]
Party	Progress and Justice Population of Islamic Iran (Spiritual leader)[4]
Other political affiliations	Coalition Council of Islamic Revolution Forces (2020) Popular Front of Islamic Revolution Forces (2017)
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Spouse	Zahra-Sadat Moshir-Estekhareh ​ ​ (m. 1982)​
Children	Elias, Eshaq, Maryam[5]
Alma mater	University of Tehran Tarbiat Modares University
Awards	Order of Fath (2nd grade) Order of Fath (3rd grade)
Religion	Shia Islam
Signature
Website	Official website
Military service
Allegiance	Iran
Branch/service	Revolutionary Guards
Years of service	1981–2005
Rank	Brigadier general
Commands	25th Karbala Division Khatam-al Anbiya HQ IRGC Air Force Law Enforcement Force
Battles/wars	1979 Kurdish Rebellion Iran–Iraq War 2026 Iran war

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf (Persian: محمدباقر قالیباف; born 23 August 1961) is an Iranian politician and former military officer serving as speaker of the Parliament of Iran since 2020. A Principlist and highly controversial figure, he was previously a member of the Expediency Discernment Council from 2017 to 2020, and was also mayor of Tehran from 2005 to 2017. Ghalibaf was formerly Iran's chief of Police Command of the Islamic Republic of Iran from 2000 to 2005 and commander of the Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from 1997 to 2000.

He is also a pilot, certified to fly certain Airbus aircraft. He began his military career during the Iran–Iraq War in 1980. He became chief commander of the Imam Reza Brigade in 1982 and was chief commander of Nasr Division from 1983 to 1984. After the war, he became Managing-Director of Khatam al-Anbia, an engineering firm controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and was appointed commander of the IRGC Air Force in 1996 by Ali Khamenei. Four years later, he became chief of the Iranian Police Forces after the previous commander was dismissed following the 1999 student protests. He was also appointed Representative of President Mohammad Khatami during a campaign to combat smuggling in 2002. In September 2005, he was elected as Tehran's mayor by the City Council of Tehran. He is also a professor at the University of Tehran.^[6] As mayor, he was connected to corruption scandals involving the selling of properties in northern Tehran to regime officials. During his mayorship he initated the construction of roads and malls in affluent north Tehran and was criticized for neglecting the poorer south of Tehran.

Ghalibaf is often regarded a perennial candidate in the presidential elections, having stood unsuccessfully for the office four times.^[7] He was a candidate in the 2005 presidential election, coming in fourth with 14% of the vote. He was a candidate in the 2013 presidential election but lost to Hassan Rouhani, in second place with 17% (6,077,292) of the votes. He announced his run for a third time in the 2017 election. However, he withdrew on 15 May 2017 in favor of Ebrahim Raisi's candidacy. He was a candidate in the 2024 presidential election, coming in third with 14% of the vote.

In the 2020 Iranian legislative election, the conservative Principlists regained the majority in the legislature,^[8] and Ghalibaf was elected as the new Speaker of Iran Parliament.^[9] Today Ghalibaf and his family are the owners of multiple luxury apartments in Istanbul. During the 2025–2026 Iranian protests, he called for punishment against protestors whom he described as enemies and terrorists.

Ghalibaf was born on 23 August 1961 in Torqabeh,^[10] near Mashhad, in the province of Razavi Khorasan,^[11] to a Kurdish father Hossein Ghalibaf and a Persian mother Kheirolnessa Boujmehrani.^[11][12]

Ghalibaf married Zahra Sadat Moshir in 1982 when he was 21 years old. Moshir (born 1968) joined her husband as an adviser and head of women's affairs in the Municipality of Tehran.^[13][14]

Ghalibaf has a bachelor's degree in human geography from Tehran University, a master's in human geography from Islamic Azad University and a PhD in political geography from Tarbiat Modares University.^[15]

At the age of 19, he was one of the commanders of the defense forces during the Iran–Iraq War. Shortly afterwards he was named commander of the Rasulollah division. By the time he was twenty-two, he was already commander of the Nasr Troops. After the war he was selected as Deputy Commander of the Resistance Force and Basij Troops under General Afshar. Ghalibaf received the degree of Major General in 1996 after he had completed a master's degree in geopolitics. In 1998, when Mohsen Rezaee retired and Yahya Rahim Safavi took over as IRGC's new commander-in-chief, he was named Commander of Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Ghalibaf became one of the senior commanders of the IRGC in later years.^[16] In 1984, he was appointed head of the Khatam-al Anbiya Construction Headquarters, which is the engineering arm of the IRGC. Under his management, the headquarters launched a 165-kilometer railway connecting Mashhad to Sarakhs.^{[citation needed]}

In an interview, Amir Shahram Rostami discussed the incident involving the clash between the IRGC Air Force and the Shiraz Air Base. Rostami explained that, despite orders from the Supreme Commander, the IRGC Air Force attempted to seize part of the Shiraz Air Base, which led to a military confrontation between the two forces and the death of a soldier from the Shiraz Air Base. Following this incident, the Judiciary and the General Staff of the Armed Forces interrogated Shahram Rostami, but did not question Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.^[17]

As commander of the Revolutionary Guards Air Force during the 1999 student protests, Ghalibaf was one of the 24 IRGC commanders who sent a threatening letter to the reformist president Mohammad Khatami, stating that if the protests were allowed to continue, they would take matters into their own hands.^[16] The letter received significant attention, with many interpreting it as a direct threat to the presidency of the Islamic Republic.^[18][19]

Following the 1999 protests, he was appointed chief of the Police Command of the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, to succeed General Hedayat Lotfian who was removed from his office during the violence. After becoming chief of police, Ghalibaf initiated some reforms in the forces, including dropping all lawsuits against newspapers, modernization of police equipment and the Police 110 project, which aimed to make the police more accessible to the general public.^[3]

On 5 April 2005, Ghalibaf submitted his resignation from the military positions (including the police forces) due to his intention to run for the presidency of Iran.

During the 2003 presidential election debates, the issue of plainclothes officers confronting students during the 2003 Tehran unrest and the attack on the Tarsht dormitory was raised between Qalibaf and Hassan Rouhani. Rouhani revealed Qalibaf's intent to suppress the students, quoting him as saying: "Students should come so we can use gas to finish the job." Rouhani emphasized that a more transparent approach would be to either deny permission for protests or make the terms clear from the start.^[20][21]

Additionally, a May 15, 2013 report on the Kalameh website revealed an audio recording of Qalibaf during a National Security Council meeting, where he threatened to allow law enforcement forces to enter universities and use force, stating: "I will 'crush' anyone who comes to the dormitory to do these things."^[22]

In 2002 and 2004, the police summoned dozens of intellectuals, journalists, political activists, news website managers, and bloggers—including figures like Aydin Aghdashloo, Houshang Golmakani, Noshabeh Amiri, Houshang Asadi, Masoumeh Seyhoun, Bahram Beizaei, Abbas Kosha, Younes Shakarkhah, Farhad Behbahani, Hanif Mazrouei, Farid Modaresi, Kaveh Golestan, Naser Zarafshan, and Behrouz Gharibpour—to the precinct office for interrogation or temporary detention. Some, such as Siamak Pourzand, were held for months. The police also provided Judge Mortazavi with a special detention center in Tehran’s Youth Square for the interrogation of the arrested individuals. Ahmad Masjed Jamei, the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, along with the Writers' Association, protested these arrests. A few weeks later, Qalibaf publicly stated that these individuals had either acted against national security or were involved in promoting cultural vulgarity. He claimed that they had formed a widespread network to distribute obscene films, from which more than 13,000 illicit compact discs were seized.^[23][24][25]

In 2002, Ghalibaf commented on Siamak Pourzand’s arrest, stating, "Pourzand had engaged in a series of anti-cultural activities that fell outside the framework of the Islamic system. Through connections his ex-wife and daughter had with Reza Pahlavi, he had been supplying Reza Pahlavi with information from inside the country, which led to the matter being raised with Mr. Khatami, the head of the National Security Council."

During this period, the police force was portrayed by reformists as a key component of a parallel intelligence apparatus.^[26]

In October 2002, Qalibaf announced that he would present the moral security plan and stated: "The law enforcement force, together with the elites of other institutions, is responsible for defining and explaining moral security, and for enforcing its requirements against violators. The will and orders of the Supreme Leader reflect the will of the general public."^[27][28][29]

In 2004, he commented on moral security, saying: "At times, when discussing improper hijab, the political significance of the issue may outweigh its moral significance. What I want to emphasize is that we should raise our perspective and examine the issue more thoroughly. First and foremost, we need to draw a clear distinction between proper hijab and improper hijab based on the regulations, as this is a fundamental requirement for civic life."^[30]

On the morning of Thursday, January 20, 2016, a massive fire broke out at the Plasco building, located at Istanbul Crossroads in central Tehran, which ultimately led to its complete collapse. The fire spread quickly, and firefighters attempted to contain it, but several of them lost their lives in the process. Following the incident, the Tehran Municipality, under Ghalibaf's leadership, faced accusations of negligence. Among the widespread criticisms were claims of "inability to manage the crisis," "failure to allocate sufficient budget to the fire department," "issuing only one warning to the Plasco building," and "focusing on removing superficial debris rather than searching for survivors." In response to this, Mohsen Sorkho described the city's crisis management as "zero."^[31][32]

On February 13, Ghalibaf presented a report on the incident during an open session of Parliament, defending the municipality's actions. He stated: "The fire brigade arrived at the Plasco building in less than two and a half minutes after the fire was reported. We had no equipment issues, and the facilities were adequate." However, his statement was interrupted by Gholamali Jafarzadeh Aymanabadi, a representative from Rasht, who accused Ghalibaf of lying about the fire brigade's response time.

Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli also provided a different account after the Plasco disaster, stating: "The fire brigade arrived five minutes after the fire started, left due to a lack of equipment, and returned 15 minutes later." In the days following the incident, numerous reports from eyewitnesses, fire officers, and experts highlighted deficiencies and equipment failures, revealing the inaccuracies in Ghalibaf's statements.^[31][33]

Qalibaf's meeting on February 7 at the Tehran City Council to review the Plasco incident was met with strong criticism from council members. During the meeting, he apologized to the public for his "inefficiency in crisis management" and emphasized that it was the responsibility of the judiciary to judge and adjudicate the Plasco incident.^[31]

In September 2016, Shargh newspaper reported on the transfer of municipal properties to certain city managers at heavily discounted prices. Following this, the Memari News website published a letter from the General Inspectorate of the country, revealing the names and details of the discounts offered to dozens of individuals and several cooperatives by the municipality. As a result of this report, the editor of the Memari News website was imprisoned after being sued by Ghalibaf and Chamran. The allegations published in the report highlighted the transfer and sale of properties and lands—intended for residential, commercial, administrative, and service use—that belonged to the public property of the Tehran Municipality. These properties, totaling more than one hundred thousand square meters, were sold to managers, deputies, council members, and several individuals at discounted prices, which was considered a violation. The report emphasized that applying 50% discounts on expert valuations, as well as unrealistic property assessments for individuals outside the municipality, led to a waste of public resources. The average price per square meter of these properties was estimated at two million tomans, resulting in a loss of over two thousand two hundred billion tomans of public property from the Tehran Municipality.^{[34] [35]}

Former Tehran mayor Mohammad Ali Najafi announced the transfer of some lands in the Abbas Abad district of Tehran to a military institution, explaining that since the contract had already been signed, the transfer could not be legally blocked. He stated that more than 670 municipal properties had been transferred to individuals and institutions, often at their discretion. Najafi, who was summarizing the investigation report on the performance of his predecessor, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, mentioned that he would report some confidential matters separately to the city council members. Ghalibaf had previously been accused by city council members of financial corruption during his tenure.^[36][37]

In the course of exposing certain violations during Ghalibaf's administration, journalist and Ghalibaf critic Yashar Soltani was imprisoned. Later, the Attorney General confirmed that 45 individuals had received properties from the municipality "outside the legal framework," though he clarified that there was no evidence of organized corruption.^[38][37]

Mahmoud Mirlohi, a member of the Tehran City Council, emphasized in an interview with Etemad newspaper that the initial report on these properties referred to the illegal transfer of 674 properties. However, subsequent investigations revealed that the number had increased to more than 2,000 properties. The case regarding these astronomical properties remains open. According to Mirlohi, Pirouz Hanachi, the current mayor of Tehran, is expected to soon address the behind-the-scenes details surrounding the transfer of 41 properties from the astronomical properties complex.^[39][40]

Mirlohi also stated that, in addition to former Tehran municipality officials, some former members of the city council were involved in the transfer of these astronomical properties. In the interview with Etemad, he further noted that the astronomical properties case has effectively "disappeared" within the judiciary.^[39][40]

In an interview with Etemad newspaper, Mirlohi also reported that, over the past two weeks, a number of municipal properties that had been "unaccountably transferred to Rasa Tejarat" in connection with the astronomical property case have now been reclaimed. Rasa Tejarat Mobin, which is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards Cooperative Foundation, has been linked in recent years to a financial case involving the Tehran Municipality. According to members of the Tehran City Council, this company owes the municipality a total of four trillion tomans under its contracts, yet has failed to repay the debt.^[39][40]

The report outlines several widespread violations by the Tehran Municipality in 2014, including: “The payment of 60 billion tomans in aid and the granting of land measuring 70,000, 7,000, and 3,000 square meters to the Imam Reza Charity, owned by Ghalibaf’s wife,” “47 secret bank accounts,” “the judiciary’s debt of 229.7 billion tomans to the municipality and its failure to repay it,” “the municipality’s demand of 497 billion tomans from the Revolutionary Guards Cooperative Foundation,” and “the purchase and sale of a metro station.”^[41]

On January 15, 2017, Mohammad Ali Najafi stated: "Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the former mayor of Tehran and a candidate in the 12th presidential election, signed two contracts worth a total of 1.43 billion tomans ($366,000, based on the dollar exchange rate of 3,900 tomans in 2017). Upon further investigation, we found that while this amount was indeed deposited into the account of the aforementioned company, only 173 million tomans were given to the company. The rest of the funds were deposited into another account belonging to the head of the office of one of the former deputy mayors, and this money was later used for election purposes. Meanwhile, the individual listed on the account at the company affiliated with the police admitted in writing that out of the 173 million tomans, only 20 million belonged to him, while the rest was distributed among others.^[42][43][44]

Paying a bribe of 65 billion tomans to prevent an investigation

On March 16, 2016, some members of parliament initiated a plan to investigate the Tehran Municipality, but they ultimately failed to secure the necessary votes. Qalibaf then thanked the parliamentarians for rejecting the investigation.^[45][46]

On Monday, July 20, 2020, Mostafa Mirsalim, a member of parliament from Tehran, revealed that an investigation was planned in 2016 to examine the performance of the Tehran Municipality during Qalibaf’s tenure as mayor. However, the investigation was halted due to a vote of opposition from parliament members. Mirsalim claimed that a bribe of 65 billion tomans was used to stop the investigation. Before this, Mirsalim had stated that the bribe had been paid to the head of a parliamentary commission. He had submitted documents related to the 65 billion tomans bribe to the judiciary.^[47][48][49]

Throughout Qalibaf's 12-year tenure as mayor, Issa Sharifi was one of his closest associates, serving as his deputy mayor for 10 years.^[50] He also stepped in as acting mayor of Tehran twice when Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf ran for president.^[50] After the composition of the Tehran City Council changed and corruption allegations started to surface regarding the Tehran Municipality, Sharifi left the country. He was arrested upon his return in connection with a case involving "serious financial corruption" during his time as mayor.^[51][52][53]

The BBC News Agency, in a summary report of Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf's management period, highlighted the following issues:

• Withdrawing 1.25 billion tomans for the elections through the signing of two contracts.^[55]
• Investing the assets of the municipal employees' reserve fund in a corrupt project.
• Increased land subsidence caused by excessive extraction of water from Tehran’s wells.
• The municipality's debt of approximately 50 trillion tomans, which is three times the current budget.^[56]
• Hiring 13,000 people ahead of the presidential elections.^[54][56]

When Ghalibaf lost the 2005 election, he was proposed as Mayor of Tehran along with Mohammad Aliabadi and Mohammad-Ali Najafi. On 4 September 2005, he was elected as the next Mayor by the City Council of Tehran to succeed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who left the office after being elected president.^[16] He received 8 out of 15 votes of the council. He was reelected for a second term on 2007 after receiving 12 votes with no opponent.

According to Bloomberg, he has used his position as mayor "to foster a reputation as a politician who gets things done."^[57] Ghalibaf sought reelection as Mayor of Tehran as the Conservative's choice in the 2013 local elections. His rivals were Mohsen Hashemi Rafsanjani, Masoumeh Ebtekar, Ali Nikzad and Mohsen Mehralizadeh. He was elected as Mayor for another term on 8 September 2013 after defeating Hashemi in a runoff with 51.6% of the votes.^[58][59]

As mayor, he was said to be connected to corruption scandals involving the selling of properties in northern Tehran to regime officials. During his mayorship he initated the construction of roads and malls in affluent north Tehran and was critisized for neglecting the poorer south of Tehran.^[60][61]

Ghalibaf, who commanded the 5th Nasr Division and then the elite 25th Karbala Division of the IRGC in the Iran–Iraq War, developed a long friendship with the then up-and-coming commander of the 41st Tharallah Division, General Qasem Soleimani. In the words of Arash Azizi:

During the war years, the commanders who had distinguished themselves most, had a regional base and a talent for organizing the men of their provinces for the national war effort. Three such men became close comrades and helped build a web of influence that strengthened their respective positions: Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Ahmad Kazemi, and Qassem Soleimani. When the war ended, they were respectively 27, 29, and 32 years old. They had respectively led IRGC divisions in Khorasan, Isfahan, and Kerman provinces, three of the biggest territorial units in the country which together accounted for much of the country's population.^[62]

In the 2013 Iranian presidential election Soleimani reportedly voted for Ghalibaf, who represented IRGC veterans' interests, against moderate candidate Hassan Rouhani, who eventually won.^[62]

Ghalibaf was a candidate in the Iranian presidential election of 2005,^[63] and was being considered to be supported by some factions of the conservative alliance because of his popularity with both wings. However, in the final days before the election, the major support went to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Ghalibaf came fourth in the election.^[63] He made a populist appeal during the campaigns.^[64]

On 13 October 2008, he announced his support for dialogue with the United States as suggested by then-presidential candidate Barack Obama. According to Ghalibaf, "the world community, the Iranian society and the US society would benefit" from such talks.^[65]

Ghalibaf did not run for presidency in the elections in 2009.^[63] His adviser announced that he would take part in the presidential elections in June 2013 and he officially announced this on 16 July 2012.^[63] After registering for the 2013 presidential election, Ghalibaf made controversial remarks about the July 8, 1999, protests. He claimed that he had been riding a 1,000-kilometer motorcycle and using sticks to beat protesters on the streets. In his speech during the announcement of his candidacy, he said:

“That's two things I still stand on and would seriously consider, first: the Constitution and second: respect the prisoners and detainees."

He also set Love and Sacrifice and Jihadi Change as his official slogans. His candidacy was approved by the Guardian Council on 21 May 2013 along with seven other candidates. He was one of the opponents of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's candidacy and says it was better that Rafsanjani not enter the race, as he had served two terms before. He and two other candidates, Ali Akbar Velayati and Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, formed a coalition called "2+1". He was endorsed by former candidates, Alireza Ali Ahmadi and Sadeq Vaeez Zadeh. Ali Larijani, the former chairman of parliament assassinated in the 2026 Iran War, also supported Ghalibaf in the election.

According to the Guardian, his moderating streak as Tehran's mayor is evident throughout Ghalibaf's political efforts.^[66] Ghalibaf received 6,077,292 votes (16.55%), putting him in second place behind winner Hassan Rouhani, who was elected as the new president.^[67] Hours after the announcement of the results, Ghalibaf published a statement congratulating Hassan Rouhani on his election as President of Iran and conceding.

Ghalibaf's candidacy for the 2024 Iranian presidential election was approved by the guardian council in June 2024.^[68]

Senior IRGC commanders, including Major General Mohsen Rezaee, Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani and Brigadier General Hossein Dehghan supported Ghalibaf's presidential bid.^[69]

Following the outbreak of war between Iran, Israel, and the United States on February 28, 2026, Ghalibaf emerged as one of the most powerful figures in Iran's wartime leadership structure. After the killing of Ali Larijani, the head of the Supreme National Security Council, Ghalibaf quietly assumed responsibility for strategic decision making, according to three senior Iranian officials. Iran's government during this period has been described as operating through a diffuse committee structure rather than a clear chain of command, with Ghalibaf handling strategic matters, IRGC commander Gen. Ahmad Vahidi leading the tactical war effort, and President Masoud Pezeshkian managing day-to-day state functions. Analysts have described the Islamic Republic as operating as a "networked survival machine" with authority spread across overlapping institutions in response to sustained Israeli targeting of senior leadership.^[70] Shortly after taking his position as the head of the Supreme National Security Council, Ghalibaf threatened the US that they would target US troops stationed in the region.^[71]

Year	Election	Votes	%	Rank	Notes
2005	President	4,095,827	13.93	4th	Lost
2013	President	6,077,292	16.56	2nd	Lost
2017	President	–			Withdrew
2020	Parliament	1,265,287	68.69	1st	Won
2024	Parliament	447,905	28.53	4th	Won
2024	President	3,383,340	13.79	3rd	Lost

Ghalibaf is regarded as the spiritual leader behind Progress and Justice Population of Islamic Iran^[4] and Iranian Islamic Freedom Party.^[72] He is a member of the political alliance Popular Front of Islamic Revolution Forces.^[73]

Ghalibaf has been accused of using his influence as a former IRGC commander to cover up corruption scandals that took place in Tehran during his term as mayor. One such scandal, which took place in 2017, involved the Yas Holding Company, a company whose board is partially made up of IRGC generals. The company was accused of embezzling an estimated 13 trillion tomans (US$3 billion) from Tehran Municipality for overpriced infrastructure projects built by construction companies linked to the IRGC during Ghalibaf's mayorship.^[74] In early 2022, a leaked audio recording was published by Radio Farda, which purported to show former IRGC Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari and Brigadier General Sadegh Zolghadr-Nia discussing the Yas Holding Company case, mentioning Ghalibaf's efforts to cover up the scandal by using his connections to the IRGC, by enlisting the support of Hossein Taeb, the head of the IRGC's Intelligence Organization.^[75][76][77]

In April 2022, photos were published on Twitter that showed Ghalibaf's wife, Zahra Sadat Moshirand, and members of Ghalibaf's family at Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport, returning from a luxury shopping trip in Turkey with 20 pieces of luggage, which were said to be a layette for their newborn child.^[78] The scandal, dubbed LayetteGate or SismuniGate by Iranian Twitter users, led to calls for him to step down as speaker of Parliament, with critics accusing Ghalibaf of being out of touch for his family shopping overseas during an economic crisis,^[79] and hypocrisy, pointing to comments made during his 2017 presidential campaign, where he criticized a former minister for traveling to Italy to purchase baby clothes.^[80][81] The criticism of Ghalibaf's family escalated when further allegations were made by an Iranian journalist based in Turkey that Ghalibaf's wife, daughter and son-in-law had purchased two luxury apartments in Istanbul worth 400 billion rials (US$1.6 million).^[82][83]

Another scandal concerned Ghalibaf's son, Eshagh Ghalibaf, who had made "repeated enquiries" to obtain Canadian permanent residency. When this came to light Iranians joined a petition asking the Canadian government not to grant the younger Ghalibaf a visa.^[84] There are reports that his son claimed to have $150,000 in funds available to support his application.^[85] In February 2024, Canadian Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marc Miller wrote on X: "On Feb. 6th, the permanent residency application of Eshagh Ghalibaf, the son of Iran’s Speaker of Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, was refused. The Iranian regime has engaged in acts of terrorism and systemic human rights violations. We stand with the people of Iran."^[84]

All these scandals however, did not stop Ghalibaf running for parliamentary election in 2024 and staying as speaker of the house in Islamic Republic's parliament.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has a long-documented history of involvement in the violent suppression of civil unrest in Iran, spanning his tenures in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the National Police (NAJA), and as Speaker of the Parliament.^[86]

During the July 1999 student protests, Ghalibaf served as the commander of the IRGC Air Force. He was one of 24 high-ranking IRGC commanders who signed a threatening letter to then-President Mohammad Khatami, stating that the military would intervene if the government did not crush the student movement. The resultant violence around the protests saw many people killed, hundreds wounded and thousands arrested.^[87] In a leaked 2013 audio recording, Ghalibaf admitted to personally participating in street-level violence, stating: "Photographs of me are available showing me on the back of a motorbike... beating [protesters] with wooden sticks." He further expressed pride in his role as a "club-wielder" despite his high military rank.^[86][88]

In 2003, while serving as the Chief of the National Police, Ghalibaf was involved in the crackdown on renewed student demonstrations at Tehran University. In the same 2013 leaked recording, he boasted of bypassing National Security Council protocols to order the use of gunfire against protestors.^[87] He recounted "raising hell" at a council meeting to secure permission for police to enter university dormitories and to "shoot" at protesters.^[86][88]

As Mayor of Tehran during the 2009 Green Movement, Ghalibaf's administration was involved in logistical support for the security crackdown. He later claimed his office was "ranked third" among government institutions for its effectiveness in responding to what officials termed the "sedition." While attempting to project a more "technocratic" image during this period, he defended the use of force as necessary for maintaining order.^[86][88]

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, as Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran, was a prominent government figure in the state response to the 2025–2026 Iranian protests, which human rights groups and international media organisations described as a brutal crackdown and massacre of demonstrators resulting in over 12,000 deaths. The killing was carried out on the direct order of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, with the explicit knowledge and approval of the heads of all three branches of government, and with an order for live fire issued by the Supreme National Security Council, of which Ghalibaf was a member.^[89] Reports compiled on Wikipedia and by human-rights advocates note that Iranian authorities deployed lethal force, imposed nationwide internet shutdowns, and arrested tens of thousands of protesters after demonstrations began in late December 2025 and escalated in early 2026, with estimates of civilian deaths ranging widely and described by some commentators as massacres under cover of communication blackouts. Critics and international observers highlighted the role of state institutions in planning and executing the security response; Ghalibaf publicly characterised the government's measures as a "war against terrorists" and defended the actions of security forces, framing the unrest as violent and foreign-influenced, a position that aligned him with hard-line elements of the response. Iranian authorities, including Ghalibaf, rejected external criticism and denied systematic abuses, while international bodies called for independent investigations into the security actions taken during the protests.^{[citation needed]}

Ghalibaf portrayed protestors as enemies "engaged in terrorist warfare."^[90] He said the enemies of Iran use "ISIS style techniques".^[91] Ghalibaf called protestors "seditionists" and said their acts were terrorism.^[92]

Ghalibaf has authored several books primarily focusing on geopolitics, political geography, and urban governance, including:

• The Logic of Complexity Analysis in Geopolitics: The Governance of Regimes in Geographical Structures (2023, with Majid Gholami).
• A Review of the Concepts of Human Geography (2020, with Mohammad Hadi Pouyandeh).
• Centralization and Decentralization in Iran (2017).
• Iran and the Development-Oriented (2009).
• Local Government (2007).

• World Mayor: 8th place (2008)^[93]
• Sustainable Transport Award: 2nd place (2011)^[94]

• Astronomical real estate controversy
• Corruption in Tehran Municipality

• "FT Interview: Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf". Financial Times. 8 January 2008.
• Siamdoust, Nahid (18 March 2008). "A Rival for Iran's Ahmadinejad". TIME. Archived from the original on 20 March 2008.
• Stockman, Farah (22 December 2008). "Iran election raises hope for change". The Boston Globe.
• Aspden, Rachel (8 January 2009). "Conservative in a leather jacket". New Statesman. UK.
• Mohammad Bagher Ghalibad on Ponishare Archived 27 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine

Military offices
Preceded by Morteza Ghorbani	Commander of the 5th Nasr Division 1983–1987	Succeeded by Esmail Qaani
Preceded by Morteza Ghorbani	Commander of the 25th Karbala Division 1988–1994	Succeeded by Unknown
Preceded by Mohammad Vafayi	Commander of the Khatam-al Anbiya Construction Headquarters 1994–1997	Succeeded by Hassan Danaeifar
Preceded by Mohammad Hossein Jalali	Commander of the Revolutionary Guards Air Force 1997–2000	Succeeded by Ahmad Kazemi
Police appointments
Preceded by Hedayat Lotfian	Commander of the Law Enforcement Force 2000–2005	Succeeded by Ali Abdollahi Acting
Political offices
Preceded by Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari as Minister of Interior	Commissioner of the President of Iran Head of the Headquarters for Fighting the Smuggling of Goods and Currency 2004–2005	Succeeded by Mohammad Reza Naqdi
Preceded by Ali Saeedlou Acting	Mayor of Tehran 2005–2017	Succeeded by Mostafa Salimi Acting
Assembly seats
Preceded by Ali Larijani	Speaker of Parliament of Iran 2020–present	Incumbent