Powerful Iranian Gen. Ahmad Vahidi emerges from hiding for first time in months ahead of Ali Khameneis funeral

Iran’s shadowy Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps chief emerged from hiding for the first time in months as he mourned alongside the casket of the assassinated former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Gen.Ahmad Vahidi – who has been sanctioned by the US and has alleged ties to terrorism abroad – was seen Thursday with his hands on Khamenei’s coffin as Tehran prepared to hold the days-long funeral for the late tyrant, according to photos published online by Iranian state media.Vahidi broke cover when he attended the meeting for Khamenei’s funeral as well as a small service before Iran begins its 40 days of national mourning on Saturday.He had not been seen publicly since Feb.

8 — three weeks before Ayatollah Khamenei and several IRGC officials, including Vahidi’s predecessor, Mohammad Pakpour, were killed on Feb.28, the first day of Operation Epic Fury.Behind the scenes, Vahidi, who is wanted by Interpol over the 1994 bombing of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, has been a key player crafting the Islamic Republic’s hardline response toward ending the four-month-old conflict. In May, he claimed Iran had emerged victorious following the “terrorist attack of the Zionist-American enemy” and said Washington had turned to a cease-fire “in humiliation,” according to the semi-official Tasnim News Agency. “Any renewed aggression by the enemy will be met with a devastating and hellish response on regional and trans-regional scales,” he threatened.Vahidi, who succeeded Pakpour as head of the IRGC, is said to be part of a small clique influencing the severely injured Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.“He is influential but [he is] part of a system,” Ali Vaez, the Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, told CNN. “Decisions are made in a consensual manner and undoubtedly Vahidi has a very loud voice in the room.”“You cannot agree on something without passing him,” Danny C...