Major General Rezaei: Leader’s military appointments disrupted US, Israeli calculations

TEHRAN - The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) has praised a recent decision by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, to appoint new top commanders in the Iranian armed forces.

In a letter addressed to Ayatollah Khamenei on Monday, Major General Mohsen Rezaei said the appointments showed that the Islamic Republic under Ayatollah Khamenei will firmly stick to the policies adopted in the country since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

He said the “wise action” in appointing six high-ranking military commanders “disrupted the calculations of the enemies of Islamic Iran, especially the rulers of the United States and the Zionist regime.”

Rezaei, who was recently appointed SNSC secretary by President Masoud Pezeshkian and the Leader’s representative to the council, described the decision to appoint the commanders as “timely and worthy,” saying that all six commanders appointed have illustrious records and experience ranging from the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s to the present day.

Last week, Ayatollah Khamenei appointed Major General Ali Abdollahi as Chief of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces and Brigadier General Kioumars Heydari as his deputy. The Leader also appointed Major General Ahmad Vahidi as Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC and Major General Mostafa Izadi as his deputy. Rear Admiral Ali Ozmaei was also appointed as Commander of the IRGC Navy, while Hossein Taeb, a high-ranking cleric with years of experience in the IRGC's intelligence branch, was appointed as Head of the IRGC's Basij force.

The appointments follow the war that the United States and Israel launched on Iran on February 28, assassinating the country’s top military commanders.