Iranian Leader Appoints New Army CommandersIranian supreme leader and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday appointed Mustafa Torabipur as Deputy Commander of the Army to replace Naser Arasteh.Torabipur, former chief of joint staff of the army, was appointed on the proposal of the newly-appointed Commander of the Army Mohammad Salimi, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported. Meanwhile, Khamenei also appointed former Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army Shahram Rostami to replace Torabipur. However, the report did not give the reason for the changes in the army. Khamenei on May 21 appointed Brigadier General Mohammad Salimi as Commander of the Army to replace Ali Shahbazi, who resigned from the post for unknown reasons. Khamenei made the changes amid ongoing power struggle between the conservatives, who dominate most of sensitive organs, and the reformists, who recently took over the parliament from the conservatives. Iran's armed forces under Khamenei's command include three major parts, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the Army and the Security Forces (police). The IRGC and the Army have their separate air, ground and naval forces. |
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