Iran’s leader tightens grip on military with top brass reshuffle

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Sep. 27 – Iran’s Supreme Leader on Monday ordered half a dozen key changes at the highest echelons of Iran’s armed forces in what is seen by certain analysts as a bid to beef up Iran’s military command might. Iran Focus

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Tehran, Iran, Sep. 27 – Iran’s Supreme Leader on Monday ordered half a dozen key changes at the highest echelons of Iran’s armed forces in what is seen by certain analysts as a bid to beef up Iran’s military command might.

Among the most notable changes was the appointment of Revolutionary Guards Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani as head of the armed forces’ Centre for Strategic Research.

Shamkhani was until mid-August Iran’s Defence Minister, a post that has no control over the armed forces, whose chain of command passes from senior military commanders to the Supreme Leader himself.

Iran Focus previously revealed that the Revolutionary Guards Read Admiral would be taking up a senior post in the regular armed forces.

Iran has had a dual system of armed forces since 1979, with the regular armed forces assigned to guard the country’s borders and the Revolutionary Guards taking care of internal security, often acting as a secret police and an intelligence agency.

In a separate decree, Khamenei also appointed Brigadier General Abdol-Ali Pourshasb as the inspector general of the armed forces.

Other changes included the placement of Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza Qara’i Ashtiani as the Deputy Commandant of the Army and Brigadier General Seyyed Abdol-Rahim Moussavi as the head of the Army’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Qara’i Ashtiani was previously the deputy chief of the armed forces logistical branch while Moussavi was head of planning of the Ground Forces.

Rear Admiral Sajjad Kouchaki Badlani was installed as the head of Iran’s Navy. Kouchaki Badlani was previously deputy head of planning and budget of Iran’s armed forces.

Brigadier General Mohammad-Hossein Dadress was upgraded to chief of the army’s Ground Forces from his previous post as deputy chief.

The reshuffle follows a pattern of similar changes at the highest levels of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. According to well-informed sources inside the Iranian bureaucracy, Supreme Leader Khamenei has ordered these changes in preparation for a possible military showdown with the West.