Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei surprised many observers when he appointed Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri as chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces June 28, replacing Maj. Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi, who had held the position for 27 years. One week later, Khamenei continued to replace the leadership of the armed forces, suggesting that Iran was looking for a shift in approach at one of the country's most important military institutions.
On July 5, Khamenei appointed Brig. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi as deputy chief of staff of the armed forces. Mousavi, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq War with a background in artillery, was one of the senior commanders of the army. Firouzabadi's former deputy chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Gholam Ali Rashidi, who had held his previous position for 17 years, was appointed as commander of Khatam al-Anbiya headquarters, the engineering conglomerate of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
