Akbari was a close ally of Ali Shamkhani, now the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, who was defense minister from 1997 to 2005.

Source: https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/iran-executes-british-iranian-accused-of-spying-prompts-western-condemnation-3

He said that on a visit to Tehran in 2019 he had met the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/14/world/middleeast/iran-execution-spying-official.html

Iran chose its senior national security official Ali Shamkhani to lead the negotiations because he is an ethnic Arab, said a regional source who belongs to Khamenei's inner circle.

Source: https://gazette.com/news/us-world/analysis-frustrated-khamenei-pushed-for-saudi-iran-deal-clinched-in-china/article_e813eb26-3991-5f51-a68e-c1fd9f3184a6.html

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani talking with Minister of State and national security adviser of Saudi Arabia Musaad bin Mohammed Al Aiban in Beijing, China on March 10, 2023.

Source: https://nypost.com/2023/03/11/china-brokers-diplomatic-deal-between-saudi-arabia-and-iran/

Shamkhani was a key player in negotiations with the West over Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, as well as years of tensions that followed then-President Donald Trump's 2018 decision to unilaterally withdraw America from the accord.

Source: https://www.baytoday.ca/world-news/irans-president-appoints-new-official-in-powerful-security-post-replacing-longtime-incumbent-7033353

Today, Shamkhani is the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, the country’s top security body which Ayatollah Ali Khamenei oversees.

Source: https://nypost.com/2023/01/14/iran-hangs-former-defense-ministry-official-ali-reza-akbari-over-spy-claim/