TEHRAN — Iran’s new Supreme Leader is reshaping the country’s military command, and as war with the US and Israel enters critical phase, Tehran appointed new chiefs across the Armed Forces, Revolutionary Guard and paramilitary volunteer militia Basij.
War with US and Israel has killed senior commanders. Washington is debating whether to keep fighting or find a way out. Talks involving Oman and the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz are moving forward. Inside Iran, economic hardship and public frustration continue to simmer.
And at the center of it all is a new Supreme Leader who has barely been seen or heard in public. A series of decrees published on the official website of Mojtaba Khamenei has now set out a sweeping change in Iran’s military leadership. Ali Abdollahi, commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, has been appointed chief of staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, replacing Abdolrahim Mousavi, who was killed in U.S. and Israeli attacks.
Abdollahi has also been tasked with integrating Iran’s Armed Forces into the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters—a move that could give the wartime headquarters an even more central role in directing Iran’s military operations.
Kioumars Heidari, formerly deputy commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya headquarters, has been appointed deputy chief of staff of the Armed Forces. Ahmad Vahidi has been named commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, with Mostafa Izadi appointed as his deputy.
Basij, another crucial arm of Iran’s security establishment, is also getting a new commander. Mostafa Tayeb has been appointed to the position, replacing Gholam-Reza Soleimani, who was killed in U.S. and Israeli attacks. Tayeb is returning to a job he has held before.
Mojtaba Khamenei inherited the most powerful position in Iran at an extraordinarily difficult moment. Yet his public presence remains almost nonexistent. Since taking over as Supreme Leader, no photograph or audio recording of him has been publicly released.
Apart from President Masoud Pezeshkian, no other senior Iranian official has publicly described meeting him face-to-face. He says he recently spent roughly seven hours with Mojtaba Khamenei discussing the problems confronting Iran—from the economy and employment to housing, sanctions, resistance and national unity.
President said the Supreme Leader warned that Iran’s enemies were trying to create divisions inside the country. And, perhaps unusually given the speculation surrounding the new leader’s absence from public view, Pezeshkian insisted that Mojtaba Khamenei was physically healthy.
The president had previously disclosed on May 6 that he had met Mojtaba Khamenei for about two and a half hours. The meetings may have been private, but the message coming from Tehran is public: unity is now being treated as a matter of national security.
Mojtaba is trying to prevent the conflict from widening across the region. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei says the Middle East does not need outside powers and accuses the United States of contributing to insecurity in the region.
Iran, he says, does not regard the countries around it as enemies and respects their sovereignty. But those same countries, Tehran argues, should not allow their territory or military facilities to be used for attacks against Iran. Baghaei specifically pointed to Kuwait, saying countries should not permit their territory to be used by another state to launch attacks. He also defended Iranian strikes against U.S. bases and other locations used in attacks on Iran, describing them as part of Tehran’s right to self-defense.
On the other hand, disagreements over the future of the conflict have now reached the highest levels of Trump led government as senior American military officials are reportedly looking for a way to end the war while keeping U.S. troops safe. But in Congress, voices calling for the removal of Iran’s Islamic Republic and tougher action by President Donald Trump are growing louder.
Some supporters of a harder line have even backed providing weapons to Iranian protesters. That creates a striking divide in Washington.
The military establishment is reportedly looking for an exit that protects American forces, while political voices are pushing for a much more ambitious confrontation with Tehran.
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