A surprising story made the front pages of Iranian newspapers April 8: “Mohsen Rezaei is back in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC].” This move could be interpreted as the end of Rezaei’s political activities.
Rezaei is the IRGC's fifth chief commander. He led this elite unit during the eight-year Iran-Iraq War, nurturing it more than his predecessors and successors. Mohsen Rafigh Doost, who served as the IRGC minister before turning the corps into an independent military organization, had put forth Rezaei's name as a candidate for the IRGC chief commander position to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. In 1981, Rezaei, 27 at the time, had abandoned his mechanical engineering studies at university before the 1979 revolution. He accepted the IRGC post and became one of the youngest military commanders in the world.
