Iran reshapes military command for offensive phase of war, crackdown on dissent

Iran is reshaping its military and appointing hardliners who vowed to take the “offensive” against the Islamic state’s enemies both abroad and at home.The country’s reclusive Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei appointed six veteran military and security figures this week to enact a new “offensive doctrine,” Mohammad Reza Naqdi, a general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), told state news media on Tuesday.The changes move Iran’ away from its pre-war doctrine focused on defense to one where Tehran will take direct action against the “enemy territory,” Naqdi said.“The emphasis on offensive operations, unified command, and faster decision-making suggests that the leadership wants to move from Ali Khamenei’s traditionally more cautious approach to deterrence toward what could be described as offensive deterrence,” Hamidreza Azizi, at the Clingendael Institute think tank, told CNN.Among the most notable appointments was the rise of Ahmad Vahidi as the commander-in-chief of the IRGC, who Khamenei ordered to carry out “powerful offensive operations against the enemy,” according to Iranian media.

Vahidi — who has been sanctioned by the US and has alleged ties to terrorism abroad — is a loyalist to the regime and believed to be guiding Khamenei’s pro-war stance.Vahidi has reportedly intervened in US-Iranian peace talks in the past and supported Tehran’s attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, with his formal rise to power likely to shift Iran to an even harder-line stance.

The IRGC commander will likely have support from Mohsen Rezaei, a former IRGC head who was named the nation’s new chief of the Supreme National Security Council.Rezaei has backed Iran’s claim to the Strait of Hormuz and warned the US last week that its troops faced serious danger if the blockade on the Islamic republic’s ports continued.

Israel’s foreign ministry warned that Vahidi and Rezaei’s demonstrates Tehran’s commitment to radical extremism by e...