Mojtaba Khamenei Names Six High-ranking Iranian Military Officials to Fill the Vacuum Caused by the War

IRGC convoy. (Wikimedia Commons/Mohammad Sadegh Heydari)

JAKARTA - Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei appointed six high military commanders on Monday, inaugurating a part of the wartime leadership structure that has been operating for months without an official decree, while leaving some sensitive intelligence positions without a public announcement.

The attacks by the United States and Israel on Tehran and a number of other cities in Iran on February 28 killed a number of senior military officials in the country, in addition to killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and civilians, causing an escalation in the Middle East.

A statement on Khamenei's website announced that "Major General Ali Abdollahi has been appointed as the chief of staff of the armed forces. Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi has also been appointed as the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with the rank of major general," reported Al Arabiya from AFP (11/8).

In addition to the two, a number of positions were announced yesterday. Former commander of the Iranian Army Brigadier General Kioumars Heydari was appointed as Abdolllahi's deputy, quoted from Iran International.

Meanwhile, Mostafa Izadi, former commander of the Cyber and New Threats Headquarters at the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, was appointed as deputy supreme commander of the IRGC.

There is also Rear Admiral Ali Azmaei officially appointed as commander of the IRGC Navy, while Hossein Taeb - former head of the influential IRGC Intelligence Organization - was appointed as commander of the Basij paramilitary forces.

Monday's announcement officially confirmed the positions of Vahidi and Azmaei, who had previously been introduced to the public as the commander of the IRGC and the commander of its navy respectively without the existence of a letter of appointment issued by Khamenei.

Vahidi has been introduced as the IRGC Commander after Mohammad Pakpour was killed earlier this year. Meanwhile, Azmaei appeared in public as the Commander of the Revolutionary Guards Navy in July following the death of Alireza Tangsiri.

The announcement fills some of the most crucial vacancies caused by the US-Israeli attack since the war broke out.

Abdollahi replaces Abdolrahim Mousavi, who was killed along with Pakpour and Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh in an attack on the first day of the war.

Previously, Abdollahi served as the commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, a joint operational command responsible for coordinating Iran's armed forces in wartime.