Latest news with #IranIraqWar
The National
3 hours ago
- Politics
- The National
Who are Iran's new military commanders?
Veterans of the Iran-Iraq war are among those replacing the Iranian commanders killed in Israel's attacks, as experts warn the force could soon start filling its top ranks with a younger generation of hardliners. The latest appointments are Maj Gen Amir Hatami as chief commander of the Iranian army, and Brig Gen Majid Mousavi, who becomes commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' aerospace force, Iranian state news agency Irna reported on Saturday. Mr Hatami served as defence minister from 2013 to 2021. He will replace Maj Gen Seyyed Abdulrahim Mousavi who will now lead the Iranian military as its chief of staff. Maj Gen Mousavi's predecessor, Mohammad Bagheri, was killed in the Israeli air strikes on Friday. The new commander-in-chief of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is Brig Gen Mohammad Pakpour, who threatened to open 'the gates of hell' in retaliation for Israel's attacks. He joined the IRGC after the 1979 revolution, in which he fought armed groups in the Kurdistan region. 'In retribution for the blood of our fallen commanders, scientists and citizens, the gates of hell will soon be opened upon this child-killing regime,' he said upon assuming the role on Friday. Iranian army spokesman Brig Gen Abolfazl Shekarchi said the four newly appointed commanders 'will advance the path of their predecessors with full power'. Lessons from the Iran-Iraq war The eight-year war between Iran and Iraq shaped the Iranian military system, and its veterans are likely to draw lessons from there. Maj Gen Hatami was part of the volunteer Basij forces during the conflict and was honoured for his pushback against the dissident militant group Mojahedin e-Khalq (MEK). Maj Gen Mousavi is also said to have played a leading role in the 1980s conflict. Brig Gen Pakpour commanded frontline divisions during the Iran-Iraq war, including the elite 8th Najaf Ashraf and 31st Ashura units, where he was wounded in combat, according to Iranian news network Press TV. 'The old generation of Guards is very ideological, but it is also risk-averse because it knows the devastation of war,' said Hamidreza Azizi, a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. The Iran-Iraq war equipped the Iranian military to replace its top brass at speed. 'This is a system that endured the war with Iraq. They have been prepared for such a scenario,' Mr Azizi told The National. The dwindling number of veterans, however, could pave the way 'step-by-step' for a new generation of military leaders who will take a more gung-ho approach to combat, and be less willing to come to the negotiating table, Mr Azizi fears. 'If the Islamic Republic can survive this war we will see a totally new creation in terms of hardliners,' he said. Dwindling chain of command Six high-ranking commanders are believed to have been killed on Friday, including the head of the IRGC Hossein Salami. The IRGC's aerospace force – which handles Iran's missiles – was the hardest hit, losing its commander, Brig Gen Amir Ali Hajizadeh, alongside 20 other senior officers who had convened for a meeting. The Guards will struggle to replace the aerospace force losses due to the large number of high-ranking officers killed, Mr Azizi said. Two deputy commanders of the Iranian army were also killed in the Israeli attacks, Iranian state media reported on Saturday, without naming them or the time of their deaths. Esmail Qaani, the leader of the Quds Force – a branch of the IRGC that supports Iran's regional proxies – is also reported to have been killed on Friday, but no replacement has been announced yet.
New York Times
17 hours ago
- General
- New York Times
Iranians Describe Israel's Attacks in Voice Memos and Calls
Iranians have not experienced anything like this in almost 40 years. More than 200 Israeli warplanes dropped hundreds of bombs across Iran early Friday, rocking cities with explosions and jolting people out of their beds. They looked out windows onto columns of smoke, ran onto rooftops for a better view and made phone calls to their loved ones. In the aftermath of the attack, some also spoke to The New York Times, sending voice notes amid flickering internet service and offering a glimpse of people's experiences in a country where many don't feel comfortable speaking to international news outlets. They described confusion, fear and anger against Israel, whose widespread attacks drew comparisons to the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. 'We were not ready' Shakiba, a 37-year-old occupational therapist based in Tehran, was only comfortable using her first name because of the heightened security situation in the country. She had been getting ready for bed at home with her two cats when the bombing began. She looked outside and saw neighbors gathering on balconies and roofs, everyone trying to see what was happening. She added: 'The first sound was really shocking, because we were not ready, we were not expecting it. And it wasn't just one sound — we heard a couple of sounds at the first. And I know all the people around the country and around the city were following the news, but we were not expecting it to happen.' She later called two of her patients, an elderly couple who live alone, their children out of the country like many other Iranian families. They were near an area that came under attack, but their health conditions prevented them from leaving their home. 'The woman just cried by the phone, and she said that 'I was really afraid because we can't move',' Shakiba recalled. She tried to reassure them, stuck in their home. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Al Jazeera
a day ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Who was Mohammad Bagheri, chief of Iran's military killed by Israel?
Israel on Friday morning struck multiple Iranian military and nuclear facilities, as well as residential homes in Tehran known to house senior security officials, pulling the region to the brink of a full-fledged war between the rivals. The attacks killed multiple senior members of Iran's military. They included General Mohammad Bagheri, the chief of staff of Iran's armed forces and the country's highest-ranking military official. Bagheri was born Mohammad Hossein Afshordi in the 1960s. In his current role, he oversaw both the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and the rest of the country's military, also ensuring coordination between those different arms of the country's security apparatus. He reportedly had a distinguished military career with the IRGC; however, little is known about him outside of his record of service, academic achievements and multiple sanctions imposed by various international bodies. 'A lot [of] higher-ranked intelligence and military officials in Iran tend to be more on the secretive side,' Reza H Akbari, Middle East and North Africa programme manager at the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, told Al Jazeera. Bagheri joined the IRGC in 1980, a year after the Iranian revolution and the same year the Iran-Iraq war began. That conflict lasted eight years and saw hundreds of thousands of people killed on both sides, with Iran enduring the greater losses. One of those killed was Bagheri's older brother, Hassan, who had reportedly founded the IRGC's military intelligence branch in 1980 and who, aged 27, led a division. Bagheri fought in the Iran-Iraq war, according to a United States congressional research report, which described him as 'an early IRGC recruit who fought against a post-revolution Kurdish uprising and in the Iran-Iraq War'. According to Iranian media, Bagheri became the head of the IRGC's intelligence operations in 1983, after the death of his brother. After the war, he also served as deputy head of intelligence and operations, and as the head of the armed forces' common affairs. He played a 'special role' in a 1997 operation in Iraq against Kurdish forces, according to Rokna, an Iranian state-affiliated news agency. In 2016, he replaced Major-General Seyyed Hassan Firoozabadi as the chief of staff of the IRGC. He was affiliated with an 'elite force within the IRGC,' according to Akbari, tasked with 'carrying out the most sensitive missions, especially those related to the air force unit'. Bagheri was sanctioned by the US in 2019, when the first Trump administration levelled sanctions against what they called the 'inner circle' of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The European Union, meanwhile, reportedly sanctioned Bagheri for supplying Russia with drones, while he was further sanctioned by the US, Canada and the United Kingdom for his role in the crackdown on the 2022 protests in Iran following the killing of Mahsa Amini. Following Bagheri's assassination, Iran appointed Ahmad Vahidi, a former defence and interior minister, as his interim replacement. In addition to Bagheri, Israel also assassinated Hossein Salami, commander in chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and Gholamali Rashid, deputy commander-in-chief of the armed forces. They also killed multiple nuclear scientists in the Friday morning attacks. The attacks came as the US and Iran were preparing for their next round of nuclear talks on Sunday in Muscat. Rhetoric over a possible attack from Israel and the US had intensified in recent days and US embassy staff had been put on alert in numerous locations, while Iran had responded with its own warnings of potential retaliation if struck. The attacks were condemned by many in the international community, including many Gulf states, such as Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar, who called it a 'flagrant violation' of international law. US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said on Friday morning that he still expected talks to continue on Sunday. But Akbari of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting said he saw little likelihood of the US-Iran negotiations continuing. 'I find the plausibility of talks continuing as slim to none,' he said.
