The age of Iran’s killers and criminals
Every political order eventually reveals what it fears most.The latter is the basis for the military hierarchy currently taking shape under Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.At first glance, Tehran’s recent appointments can be explained as a consequence of war. Senior commanders were killed, positions became vacant, and the Islamic Republic had to reconstruct parts of its chain of command. But the nature of political systems is revealed not simply by the offices they fill, but by the people they trust to fill them.Khamenei has not promoted a conspicuously younger generation of military professionals or modernizers. He has repeatedly turned to veterans of the revolutionary security establishment: Men shaped by the 1979 revolution, the Iran-Iraq war, intelligence and counterintelligence operations, ideological enforcement, confrontation with Israel and the United States, and the suppression of dissent at home. Thus, these appointments reveal something larger than administrative succession. They show how the new leadership…
Under Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's new military hierarchy indicates a regime focused on survival rather than reform. Recent appointments, including Ali Abdollahi as chief of the General Staff and Kiumars Heydari as deputy chief, are drawn from the revolutionary security establishment. Heydari notably described the suppression of 2019 protests as a "proud" mission, blurring the lines between defending Iran and defending the Islamic Republic. Ahmad Vahidi, accused by Argentine prosecutors of involvement in the 1994 AMIA bombing, now commands the IRGC, while Hossein Taeb, sanctioned for human rights abuses, leads the Basij. These choices suggest the regime views foreign and domestic challenges as a single security problem, relying on coercion and repression to maintain power. This approach, while demonstrating organizational resilience, also reveals a narrowing pool of trusted guardians, indicating a deeper problem of political legitimacy and a regime increasingly frightened of its own citizens.
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