Iran’s south-eastern military base gets new chief

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, May 12 – A senior military commander was appointed earlier this week as the new head of an ultra-secretive division of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, May 12 – A senior military commander was appointed earlier this week as the new head of an ultra-secretive division of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

Brigadier General Gholam-Reza Soleimani was appointed as the new commander of the IRGC Tharollah-41 division situated in the south-eastern province of Kerman, state media have reported. Much of the IRGC’s activities in the porous border regions of neighbouring Afghanistan and Pakistan are coordinated at Tharollah-41.

Soleimani replaced Brigadier General Ruhollah Nouri.

The IRGC was founded in the early days of the Islamic revolution in 1979 as an armed force loyal to Iran’s clerical rulers. Its commanders directly report to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and their mission is to “protect and propagate” the Islamic revolution.

Separately, there was a report that an IRGC commander was appointed as the new chief of police in the north-western province of Zanjan.

Gholam-Hossein Aghagolzadeh replaced Mehdi Tavakoli.