Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has appointed six senior commanders to key positions in the country's armed forces, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Basij, according to decrees published by his office on Monday.
Maj Gen Ali Abdollahi was named chief of staff of the armed forces, replacing Lt Gen Abdul Rahim Mousavi, who was killed in US-Israeli strikes at the start of the war on February 28. Brig Gen Kiumars Heidari was named deputy chief of staff.
Brig Gen Ahmad Vahidi was promoted to the rank of major general and appointed commander-in-chief of the IRGC, replacing Lt Gen Mohammad Pakpour, while Maj Gen Mostafa Izadi was appointed deputy commander-in-chief of the paramilitary force.
Lt Gen Pakpour was also killed in air strikes targeting Iran's military leadership on February 28.
Admiral Ali Ozmaei was appointed commander of the IRGC Navy, replacing Alireza Tangsiri, who was killed in an Israeli air strike in March. Former IRGC intelligence chief Hossein Taeb was named head of the Basij, the paramilitary's volunteer force.
Mr Khamenei called for strengthening the armed forces' capabilities and readiness, developing their ability to respond to conventional and emerging military threats, and completing the planned merger of the Armed Forces General Staff and the Khatam Al Anbiya Central Headquarters.
Mr Khamenei also instructed Maj Gen Vahidi to strengthen the IRGC's deterrence capabilities and prepare it for what he described as “powerful offensive operations against the enemy”.
On Sunday, the supreme leader appointed Mohsen Rezaei, a former head of the IRGC, as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.
Mr Rezaei replaces Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr as second-in-command of the body that co-ordinates Iran's security and foreign policy and is chaired by President Masoud Pezeshkian. Mr Zolghadr was appointed political adviser to Mr Khamenei.
Mr Rezaei, 71, commanded the IRGC from 1981 to 1997, including during much of the Iran-Iraq war.
He later served as secretary of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council for more than two decades and as vice president for economic affairs from 2021 to 2023 under hardline president Ebrahim Raisi.
