Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) appointed on Saturday a new commander for the unit responsible for protecting the country’s supreme leader, state media reported, days after the IRGC replaced its intelligence chief.
The IRGC’s chief commander Hossein Salami appointed Hasan Mashroueifar as the new commander of the IRGC’s “Vali Amr” unit, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, citing the IRGC’s spokesman Ramezan Sharif.
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The unit is responsible for protecting Iran’s highest authority, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Mashroueifar, about whom little is known, replaced Ebrahim Jabbari, who had headed the unit since 2010. Sharif did not specify whether Jabbari has been given a new role.
The replacement of Jabbari comes days after the IRGC replaced Hossein Taeb, a powerful cleric who had served as the head of the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization since 2009.
The surprise dismissal of Taeb came after a series of assassinations and mysterious deaths of members of the IRGC as well as other individuals associated with Iran’s military over the past few weeks.
The close timing of the dismissals of Jabbari and Taeb, who both served in their positions for over a decade, will raise questions. Jabbari briefly served as Taeb’s deputy when Taeb headed the Basij – a paramilitary arm of the IRGC – in 2009.
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