Trump says he is ‘number one’ on Iran’s target list

Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei formally appointed six senior military commanders Monday, cementing a wartime reshuffle as Tehran rebuilds a command structure impacted by months of U.S. and Israeli strikes.

The appointments, announced by Khamenei’s office and promoted on social media, fill posts across Iran’s armed forces, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij paramilitary force, with a counterterrorism expert warning the timing and language of the decrees signal Tehran is preparing for “prolonged confrontation” and not a settlement with Washington.

“Strategically, the announcements made were issued in English, on X, while Iranian and Omani negotiators finalize the coordinates of a proposed shipping route through Hormuz, which is deliberate sequencing,” Dr. Omar Mohammed, director of the Antisemitism Research Initiative at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, told Fox News Digital.

“Tehran is establishing its command structure as a fact on the ground before it signs anything.”

Mohammed also pointed to language in the appointment announcements blaming the deaths of predecessors on what Iran called the “Zionist-American enemy.”

“That phrase, in formal state documents, codifies the United States as a co-belligerent,” Mohammed said.

Khamenei appointed Ali Abdollahi as chief of staff of the armed forces and Kioumars Heydari as his deputy. He also formally named Ahmad Vahidi commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, promoting him to the rank of major general.

Mostafa Izadi was named deputy IRGC commander, Ali Azmaei as commander of the IRGC Navy and Hossein Taeb as commander of the Basij. 

Mohammed said Vahidi was also instructed to maintain readiness for “powerful offensive operations against the enemy,” by the Supreme Leader, while Abdollahi was tasked with completing the integration of the General Staff into the Khatam al-Anbiya wartime joint command.