Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei appointed six officers to senior positions across Iran’s armed forces and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, formalizing a command structure reshaped by the deaths of previous leaders during Israeli and US military action.
The appointments were issued by official decree on Monday, according to reports citing Iranian state media. They covered the leadership of the Armed Forces, the IRGC, its naval branch and the Basij paramilitary organization. The officials they replaced had been killed during the conflict, the reports said. [Source 15364]
Ali Abdollahi was named chief of staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, while Kioumars Heydari became deputy chief of staff. Abdollahi replaced Abdolrahim Mousavi, who was reported killed in an Israeli strike on February 28. Abdollahi had been serving as head of the Khatam al-Anbiya military headquarters before receiving the new appointment. [Source 15364]
Khamenei also formally appointed Ahmad Vahidi to lead the IRGC and selected Mostafa Izadi as its deputy commander. Vahidi had already been acting as the organization’s leader after his predecessor, Mohammad Pakpour, was killed in an Israeli strike on February 28, identified by Al-Monitor as the first day of the US-Israel-Iran war. [Source 15364]
The other decrees named Ali Ozmaei as commander of the IRGC Navy and Hossein Taeb as commander of the Basij. Ozmaei replaced Alireza Tangsiri, who was reported killed by Israel in March. Both Vahidi and Ozmaei had already been carrying out the duties of their respective posts, but their appointments had not previously been formally published by the Supreme Leader’s Office, according to The Jerusalem Post. [Sources 15363, 15364]
The six appointments followed additional changes involving experienced figures from the Revolutionary Guard. A day earlier, a statement attributed to Khamenei named former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezaee as the supreme leader’s representative on the Supreme National Security Council. Rezaee led the IRGC from 1981 to 1997. [Source 15363]
Mohammed Bagher Zolghadr was also appointed as Khamenei’s political adviser. Zolghadr has held several senior IRGC posts since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and served as the organization’s deputy chief from 1997 until 2006. [Source 15363]
Taken together, the decrees placed permanent appointees in roles that had either been left vacant or filled on an acting basis after the reported deaths of senior commanders. The changes also extended beyond operational military leadership to positions connected with Iran’s national security and political advisory system.
The appointments came amid continuing tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Al-Monitor. Neither supplied report provided further details about the appointees’ immediate operational priorities or any broader restructuring beyond the positions announced. [Source 15364]
