He was the director of the Iranian Armed Forces’ Center for Strategic Studies from 2005 to 2013. He is also military advisor to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.On 10 September 2013, Shamkhani was appointed secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.After the US airstrike that was responsible for killing on 3 January 2020 the head of IRGC’s Quds force Qasem Soleimani as he travelled in Baghdad Iraq, Shamkhani said on 6 January of the response that it would be a “historic nightmare” for the US: “Even if the weakest of these scenarios gains a consensus, the implementation of it can be a historic nightmare for the Americans… The entirety of the resistance forces will retaliate,” he said to the Fars News Agency. The SNSC was assessing 13 revenge scenarios.