Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei made six new appointments to key military posts in separate decrees on Monday evening. The commanders will fill senior positions in the Armed Forces General Staff, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and the Basij Resistance Force.
Brig. Gen. Ali Abdollahi was named chief of staff of Iran’s Armed Forces and Brig. Gen. Kioumars Heydari was appointed deputy chief of staff. Both are sanctioned by the United States and European Union for serious human rights abuses.
Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf congratulated both in a written statement, praising Abdollahi’s “distinguished performance” in the Gulf War as “a brilliant chapter in his record,” according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), the official news agency of Iran.
Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi was promoted to the rank of major general and appointed chief commander of the IRGC. He had been serving as its deputy commander since December 2025, when he was appointed by now-deceased Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Vahidi led the “most severe repression campaigns” against the Iranian people, according to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. In 2022, the United States redesignated Vahidi a Specially Designated National (SDN) targeted for sanctions for his key role in subduing protests and committing serious human rights abuses following the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, who was reportedly beaten to death by police after being taken into custody for failing to wear a “proper” hijab.
Hossein Taeb was named head of the Basij, the branch of the IRGC responsible for internal security. Taeb had joined the IRGC in 1982 and had previously headed the Basij before his promotion to head of intelligence of the IRGC, where he served for 13 years until his dismissal in 2022.
Although no official reason was given at the time of his dismissal, it was generally agreed that Taeb was dismissed due to his failure to stop Israel from breaching Iran’s security network, and a botched plot to assassinate Israelis. Days before Taeb’s dismissal, Turkey detained five Iranians in Istanbul suspected of involvement in a plot to kill Israeli tourists in the country.
“[Taeb] was considered almost as powerful as Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,” The New York Times reported in June 2022. “The mere mention of his name inspired fear because he ordered crackdowns on dissent, executions, arrests and various intelligence operations.”
In 2010, the U.S. sanctioned Taeb for human-rights abuses. The European Union did so in 2011. Taeb replaces Gholamreza Soleimani, who was killed on March 17 in an Israeli airstrike.
Ghalibaf said Taeb’s appointment heralds “a new chapter of transformation in the volunteer forces, with people-oriented development and utilization of the country’s enormous human capital,” IRNA reported.
The other appointments included Maj. Gen. Mostafa Izadi, who will become deputy commander-in-chief of the IRGC, and Rear Admiral Ali Ozamaei, who will head the IRGC Navy. Both are sanctioned by the U.S.
Izadi is described as a veteran commander of the IRGC. He served in various operational and command roles. Most recently, he served as deputy for strategic affairs and oversight at the General Staff of the Armed Forces and commander of the Cyber and Emerging Threats Headquarters of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters.
Ozamaei commanded the IRGC Navy’s Fifth Naval District from November 2012 to 2025. The district’s area of operations extends from the east of Qeshm Island to the west of Kish Island and includes the three Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf, according to PressTV, an Iranian state-owned news outlet.
Ozamaei had been serving as acting commander of the IRGC Navy after the previous commander, Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Bandar Abbas in March 2026.
The U.S.-Israel alliance has eliminated many Iranian leaders, wiping out about 50 at the outset of the war, including Ali Khamenei.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in March that Iranian leadership positions are “temp jobs” thanks to the US and Israel’s success in targeting them.
