He was speaking at a televised press conference on August 21st, at which he announced his own coronation as president, army chief and chairman of a powerful new National Security Council (NSC) for the next five years.

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In addition to being the deputy chairman of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Jafari, as he is known here, is a Revolutionary Guard commander who was implicated in the assassination of an Iranian opposition leader in Vienna in 1989.

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In government, I served as Senior Director of International Economic Affairs at the National Security Council from March 1982 to September 1985 and later served as Chairman of the Congressional U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission until January 2006.

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