Retired Iranian military commander Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr was on Tuesday appointed the country's security chief to fill the shoes of his slain predecessor Ali Larijani, according to Seyyed Mehdi Tabatabaei, deputy for communications at the Iranian president's office.
Larijani was killed in last week's joint strikes by the US and Israel.
Who is Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr?
Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr reached the rank of brigadier general in the IRGC. He had been serving as the secretary of Iran's Expediency Council.
He headed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' educational division in the 1980s. He also commanded the IRGC's irregular warfare headquarters and the Ramazan headquarters.
He was appointed the deputy chief of general staff of Iranian Armed Forces for Basij-related affairs in 2007. In 2012, he became the deputy judiciary chief for strategic affairs.
Zolghadr's wife Sedigheh Begum Hejazi has served as the director general of the Office of Women and Family Affairs. His son-in-law, Kazem Gharibabadi is an envoy who represented Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and other global organisations.
The appointment comes as Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi of Iran's Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters said on Tuesday that its armed forces will fight "until complete victory."
"Iran's powerful armed forces are proud, victorious and steadfast in defending Iran's integrity, and this path will continue until complete victory," Iranian state television quoted Aliabadi as saying.
