Inside Iran’s Preparations for War and Plans for Survival

Inside Iran’s Preparations for War and Plans for Survival

NY Times-Feb 22,2028

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has entrusted Ali Larijani, the top national security official, to ensure the Islamic Republic endures any military attacks and targeted killings.

By Farnaz Fassihi

Farnaz Fassihi has covered Iran for three decades, living there and traveling extensively throughout the country.

Feb. 22, 2026Updated 5:33 a.m. ET

In early January, as Iran faced nationwide protests and the threat of strikes by the United States, the nation’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, turned to a trusted and loyal lieutenant to steer the country: Ali Larijani, the country’s top national security official.

Since then, Mr. Larijani, 67, a veteran politician, a former commander in the Revolutionary Guards Corps and the current head of the Supreme National Security Council, has effectively been running the country. His rise has sidelined President Masoud Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon turned politician, who has faced a challenging year in office and continues to say publicly that “I’m a doctor, not a politician,” and that no one should expect him to solve the multitude of problems in Iran.

This account of Mr. Larijani’s ascent and the decisions and deliberations of Iran’s leadership as the Trump administration threatens war is based on interviews with six senior Iranian officials, one of them affiliated with Ayatollah Khamenei’s office; three members of the Revolutionary Guards; two former Iranian diplomats; and reports from the Iranian news media. The officials and members of the Guards spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly discuss internal government matters.

Mr. Larijani’s portfolio of responsibilities has grown steadily over the past few months. He was in charge of crushing, with lethal force, the recent protests demanding the end of Islamic rule. Currently, he is keeping a lid on dissent, liaising with powerful allies like Russia and regional actors like Qatar and Oman, and overseeing nuclear negotiations with Washington. He is also devising plans for managing Iran during a potential war with the United States as Washington amasses forces in the region.

“We are ready in our country,” Mr. Larijani said in an interview with Al Jazeera when he visited the Qatari capital, Doha, this month. “We are definitely more powerful than before. We have prepared in the past seven, eight months. We found our weaknesses and fixed them. We are not looking for war, and we won’t start the war. But if they force it on us, we will respond.”