Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei appointed on Thursday Ali Fadavi as Deputy Commander of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and Mohammad Reza Naghdi as Deputy Coordinator of the organization, local media reported.
Naghdi was previously the commander of Basij (mobilization) forces.
Fadavi was IRGC Navy commander from 2010 to 2018 and since then he was serving as IRGC Deputy Coordinator.
He recently appeared in a documentary by Iranian Ofogh TV titled “Face to Face with Satan.” In part of the documentary Fadavi said that “Our plans state that Americans must leave the Persian Gulf.”
He is also among the Iranian conservative figures who are highly critical of the Rouhani’s government and his foreign policy.
Back in 2006, Fadavi and his team were prized by the Supreme Leader for temporarily holding 10 US sailors in the Persian Gulf.
Fadavi warned at that time that the US and its navy “won’t be the winner of any battle with Iran in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, as destruction of their warships will be the end result of any such war.”
This is the second time in a short period that Iranian Supreme Leader changed the top officials inside the military organization.
Earlier on April 20 Khamenei appointed Brigadier General Hossein Salami as IRGC’s Commander-in-Chief.
