Iran is rebuilding the upper ranks of its military and security establishment after months of wartime losses by turning largely to familiar veterans — figures whose careers in some cases stretch back to the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Iran-Iraq War and previous domestic crackdowns.The appointments follow the deaths of several senior Iranian commanders in U.S.-Israeli strikes since the war began Feb.28, The National reported Aug.
11.For Washington, the stakes go beyond who fills the vacancies.The reshuffle puts veteran hardliners atop institutions that shape Iran’s military operations, national-security policy and internal security at a time of renewed confrontation with the United States.The appointments do not prove that Tehran has run out of younger commanders or that loyalty was the sole criterion, but the reliance on figures whose careers stretch back decades is raising a broader question for U.S.
policymakers: whether wartime losses have left Iran increasingly dependent on a smaller circle of trusted ideologues — potentially narrowing the room for compromise even as Washington tries to pressure Tehran back toward a deal.IRAN’S REVOLUTIONARY GUARD SIDELINES PRESIDENT AS MILITARY GRIP EXPANDSAhmad Vahidi, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, Esmail Qaani, and Iraj Masjedi, Deputy Coordinator of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, participate in a ceremony to mark the memory of former IRGC commander, Hossein Salami, who was killed in Israeli attacks, at a mosque in an IRGC organizational house complex in Tehran, Iran, July 25, 2025.(Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/Nur Photo via Getty Images)Former American prisoner Morad Tahbaz, who was detained in Iran in 2018 and freed in a U.S.-Iran prisoner exchange in September 2023, told Fox News Digital that he views the latest appointments as evidence of Tehran's continued dependence on longtime loyalists."They keep rotating the same old people, most of whom are fairly ...