DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (Reuters) — Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, is taking a more central role, as Israeli and US strikes pick off the Islamic Republic’s political leadership, making him a critical figure at a decisive moment.

An Israeli official and a source familiar with the matter said on Monday that Qalibaf had been negotiating on Iran’s behalf with the United States as the conflict has escalated, a sign of his growing role.

With fewer of Iran’s most prominent figures remaining, the former Revolutionary Guards commander, Tehran mayor, national police chief, and presidential candidate is now a key node between the political, security, and clerical elites.

Nearly three weeks after the sudden assault on Iran began with the killing of then-supreme leader Ali Khamenei, the leadership in Tehran is engaged in a bitter attritional effort to outlast its assailants.

Qalibaf, long seen as a protégé of Khamenei and a confidant of his son Mojtaba who has inherited the position of supreme leader, has been a leading voice of defiance against Israel and the United States, vowing revenge for their attacks.

Addressing US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the killing of Khamenei, he promised “such devastating blows that you will be begging.”

“I say to these two dirty criminals and their agents: you have stepped on our red line, and you have to pay for it,” he declared in a television speech.

That fiery rhetoric reflects his longstanding position as a fierce disciple of the Islamic Republic’s theocratic system of government, a........

© The Times of Israel