Mojtaba Khamenei Merges Armed Forces Command Structure, Appoints Six Hardline Generals to Lead Unified Security Core

TEHRAN — Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has formally ordered a structural consolidation of Iran’s military hierarchy, merging the General Staff of the Armed Forces with the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters to fuse policy doctrine and operational battlefield command under a unified leadership structure for the first time since 1988.

The consolidation cements operational control over both regular military forces (Artesh) and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) following months of regional escalation and senior leadership vacancies resulting from US-Israeli strikes.

As part of the structural overhaul, Mojtaba Khamenei issued decrees appointing six high-ranking military commanders to head the streamlined security command:

1. Major General Ali Abdollahi — Appointed Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces. Former commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, Abdollahi has been tasked with overseeing the integration of military policy and battlefield command. He succeeds Abdolrahim Mousavi, who was killed earlier this year.
2. Major General Ahmad Vahidi — Promoted to Major General and officially confirmed as Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Vahidi, a hardline founding commander of the Quds Force and former Minister of Interior, fills the vacancy created by the death of Mohammad Pakpour.
3. Brigadier General Kiumars Heydari — Appointed Deputy Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces. Heydari previously served as Commander of the Army Ground Forces (Artesh).
4. Major General Mostafa Izadi — Named Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC. A veteran commander, Izadi previously served as head of IRGC Ground Forces and top military strategist.
5. Rear Admiral Ali Ozmaei — Officially confirmed as Commander of the IRGC Navy. Ozmaei, long-time commander of the 5th Naval Region overseeing the strategic Strait of Hormuz, replaces slain former naval chief Alireza Tangsiri.
6. Hossein Taeb — Appointed Commander of the Basij Resistance Force. Taeb, the influential former head of the IRGC Intelligence Organization and a key figure within Mojtaba Khamenei’s inner circle, replaces Gholamreza Soleimani.

Military analysts view the restructuring as a strategic move by Mojtaba Khamenei to eliminate friction between doctrinal planners and operational field commanders, tightening his personal grip over Iran’s defense architecture during the ongoing confrontation over the Strait of Hormuz and regional proxy fronts.