Iranian authorities announced a broad series of senior military appointments on Monday, including a new commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei reshuffled leadership across the country’s armed forces, IRGC and Basij.

Khamenei announced six senior appointments. Ali Abdollahi was named commander of the armed forces, with Kioumars Heydari appointed as his deputy. Ahmad Vahidi was formally appointed commander of the IRGC, while Mostafa Izadi was named his deputy.

Ali Azmaei was also appointed commander of the IRGC Navy, while the leadership of the Basij was placed under Ayatollah Hossein Taeb.

Taeb previously served as commander of IRGC intelligence and was removed from that position in 2022 after a series of failures. The Kan News update notes that he failed to prevent Israeli operations inside Iran and was unsuccessful in carrying out retaliatory attacks against Israelis in Turkey and other locations.

The appointments represent a significant reshuffling of senior command positions across several of Iran’s most important military and security bodies, with new leadership installed in the armed forces, IRGC, IRGC Navy and Basij.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)